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Quantum Leap #3
Quantum Leap: Too Close For Comfort
Vintage TV tie-in paperback
272 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1993
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146 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 18, 2019
The title description and Author match
There are some of the Quantam Leap books where the author tittle and description are poles apart
In the recommended sequence this book should be read ether First or second before reading any of the other books in the series
Suggested order is Genesis (aka THE BEGINNING) (beware the title is listed incorrectly with the description of PRELUDE and gives the incorrect author)
THE BEGINNING is based on the pilot episode of the TV SERIES
It can be read after reading PRELUDE but it is a mouth watering taste of things to come and how he landed up there after PRELUDE
However no matter which sequence you read the series this MUST be read before reading PRELUDE because the events detailed in this book follow directly into the next book PRELUDE
Reading these two books out of sequence will be like going to watch a movie from the middle and not from the beginning
Confusing
The book compared to the rest of the series is flatter and introduces Al to us and the danger when Sam leaps into a fellow participant in the Man Cave Group run by a man who sadly puts his encouraging men to be men group above that of his own family leading to possible tragedy
This book is very reflective of the situation today where men tend to bury themselves in work at the expense of being part of the family and watching them grow up
It is very male chauvinistic in places where the man expects his wife and daughter to cow tow to his demands
It is very apt for that time frame on how men treated woman and children
Same attitude as George Banks has in Mary Poppins 1965/
The danger of Sam interfering at this point could threaten the future of the Quantum Leap Project if Al decides to chose a different path
It also explores the dangers of bossing children around and alienating them sending them on the wrong paths and even destroying their lives with a no care type attitude
I’m the boss so you must listen to me attitude
A rebellious child
A wife who is too scared to tell her husband that she is terminally ill
Someone who needs to take a certain path failing which quantum Leap would not have happened and jeopardizing many people’s lives in the future (Back to the Future I II and III)
This is an uncomfortable book to read because of the harsh realities displayed but it is an essential book to read to understand what happens in PRELUDE
Once you have read TO CLOSE FOR COMFORT read PRELUDE
After that I cant suggest a reading order
Reading them in published order is a jump around because from what I remember certain events take place thatbrelate to other book sin the series
There are some of the Quantam Leap books where the author tittle and description are poles apart
In the recommended sequence this book should be read ether First or second before reading any of the other books in the series
Suggested order is Genesis (aka THE BEGINNING) (beware the title is listed incorrectly with the description of PRELUDE and gives the incorrect author)
THE BEGINNING is based on the pilot episode of the TV SERIES
It can be read after reading PRELUDE but it is a mouth watering taste of things to come and how he landed up there after PRELUDE
However no matter which sequence you read the series this MUST be read before reading PRELUDE because the events detailed in this book follow directly into the next book PRELUDE
Reading these two books out of sequence will be like going to watch a movie from the middle and not from the beginning
Confusing
The book compared to the rest of the series is flatter and introduces Al to us and the danger when Sam leaps into a fellow participant in the Man Cave Group run by a man who sadly puts his encouraging men to be men group above that of his own family leading to possible tragedy
This book is very reflective of the situation today where men tend to bury themselves in work at the expense of being part of the family and watching them grow up
It is very male chauvinistic in places where the man expects his wife and daughter to cow tow to his demands
It is very apt for that time frame on how men treated woman and children
Same attitude as George Banks has in Mary Poppins 1965/
The danger of Sam interfering at this point could threaten the future of the Quantum Leap Project if Al decides to chose a different path
It also explores the dangers of bossing children around and alienating them sending them on the wrong paths and even destroying their lives with a no care type attitude
I’m the boss so you must listen to me attitude
A rebellious child
A wife who is too scared to tell her husband that she is terminally ill
Someone who needs to take a certain path failing which quantum Leap would not have happened and jeopardizing many people’s lives in the future (Back to the Future I II and III)
This is an uncomfortable book to read because of the harsh realities displayed but it is an essential book to read to understand what happens in PRELUDE
Once you have read TO CLOSE FOR COMFORT read PRELUDE
After that I cant suggest a reading order
Reading them in published order is a jump around because from what I remember certain events take place thatbrelate to other book sin the series
December 31, 2012
amazeballs.
March 12, 2017
I thought this was quite good for a novel based on a TV show. I think it helps to have knowledge of the show though.
July 15, 2020
Loved It.
I wasn't so sure at First, but then the writer convinced me planty!
I wasn't so sure at First, but then the writer convinced me planty!
December 7, 2022
It was about time!
ONE OF THOSE BOOKS
I think that we, readers, have at least one of those books…
…those books that we found in a shelf of a bookstore, we had it in the hands, we considered to buy it…
…but…
…for some reason, we didn’t buy it…
…BUT…
…that book stuck in our minds since then, we remember the cover, we remember the title, we never forget the book and we kinda regret not getting it and wonder if it was any good.
Well…
…this book was my example of those books. I had it in my hands and considered to buy it but at the end I didn’t and since then I never forget it.
And since 1993, this book stuck in my mind.
Luckily, I was able to get it recently and since Quantum Leap is trending again thanks to the sequel TV series, I thought that it was a perfect…
…time…
…to leap and vanish into reading it.
QUANTUM READ
In this story, Dr. Sam Beckett leaps into a person too close for confort of a little younger version of Admiral Al Calavicci, before of his involvement in the Quantum Leap project and the interaction with this Al can be put into danger the very project causing a paradox of grave consequences.
The mission of the leap isn’t that exciting since it didn’t involve the “past” Al but a person around that Sam needs to avoid her participation in a robbery.
Still, it was a cool reading since you get a lot of conversations of Sam and Al (the “present” Al) and Al and Ziggy (the Quantum Leap project computer) analyzing and explaining how the Quantum Leap project works and its implications in the flux of time, and everything discussed is consistent to the exposed along the run of the original TV series.
So, I am glad of finally “un-stuck” this book from my mind and being able to read it.
ONE OF THOSE BOOKS
I think that we, readers, have at least one of those books…
…those books that we found in a shelf of a bookstore, we had it in the hands, we considered to buy it…
…but…
…for some reason, we didn’t buy it…
…BUT…
…that book stuck in our minds since then, we remember the cover, we remember the title, we never forget the book and we kinda regret not getting it and wonder if it was any good.
Well…
…this book was my example of those books. I had it in my hands and considered to buy it but at the end I didn’t and since then I never forget it.
And since 1993, this book stuck in my mind.
Luckily, I was able to get it recently and since Quantum Leap is trending again thanks to the sequel TV series, I thought that it was a perfect…
…time…
…to leap and vanish into reading it.
QUANTUM READ
In this story, Dr. Sam Beckett leaps into a person too close for confort of a little younger version of Admiral Al Calavicci, before of his involvement in the Quantum Leap project and the interaction with this Al can be put into danger the very project causing a paradox of grave consequences.
The mission of the leap isn’t that exciting since it didn’t involve the “past” Al but a person around that Sam needs to avoid her participation in a robbery.
Still, it was a cool reading since you get a lot of conversations of Sam and Al (the “present” Al) and Al and Ziggy (the Quantum Leap project computer) analyzing and explaining how the Quantum Leap project works and its implications in the flux of time, and everything discussed is consistent to the exposed along the run of the original TV series.
So, I am glad of finally “un-stuck” this book from my mind and being able to read it.
September 22, 2024
Theorising that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanished... He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home…”
That's the intro from the original, 1990s, show (as opposed to the more modern 2020 reincarnation).
Why am I posting the above?
Because this novel itself is from the 90s, long before Dr Raymond Song or any of the newer bunch, and so focuses on the original Leaper Sam, and his hologrammatic observer Al.
It was also obviously written whilst the show was still on air (or, at the very least, not long after it ended), and very much could have been a episode of that original show, which was far more episodic in nature than the newer version.
Here, Sam finds himself in the body of a college graduate in what-I-believe-to-be the early 1990s, leasing a room from a college professor who is very much into the whole Men movement of the era, so much so that said professor does not even realize when his family life is falling down around him.
Being the early 1990s, this is far too close to the timeline from which Sam leaps (1999), with Al Calvacci also involved here both as Sam's hologram, and as an actual person who Sam encounters as a member of Dr Wales encounter group. Hence the title 'Too Close for Comfort', which can be construed in multiple different ways!
That's the intro from the original, 1990s, show (as opposed to the more modern 2020 reincarnation).
Why am I posting the above?
Because this novel itself is from the 90s, long before Dr Raymond Song or any of the newer bunch, and so focuses on the original Leaper Sam, and his hologrammatic observer Al.
It was also obviously written whilst the show was still on air (or, at the very least, not long after it ended), and very much could have been a episode of that original show, which was far more episodic in nature than the newer version.
Here, Sam finds himself in the body of a college graduate in what-I-believe-to-be the early 1990s, leasing a room from a college professor who is very much into the whole Men movement of the era, so much so that said professor does not even realize when his family life is falling down around him.
Being the early 1990s, this is far too close to the timeline from which Sam leaps (1999), with Al Calvacci also involved here both as Sam's hologram, and as an actual person who Sam encounters as a member of Dr Wales encounter group. Hence the title 'Too Close for Comfort', which can be construed in multiple different ways!
October 27, 2025
3.5 stars
originally reviewed on the storygraph
I always like it when a QL story gets messy with personal connections to the team, and I enjoyed the way this book handled both the double-Al situation and the issues of Sam being too close in time to “home” to reliably predict the situation. Also since the plot was so modern compared to other QL entries, the focus could be more on the family dynamics and sci-fi worldbuilding than “wow look at the time travel!”
originally reviewed on the storygraph
I always like it when a QL story gets messy with personal connections to the team, and I enjoyed the way this book handled both the double-Al situation and the issues of Sam being too close in time to “home” to reliably predict the situation. Also since the plot was so modern compared to other QL entries, the focus could be more on the family dynamics and sci-fi worldbuilding than “wow look at the time travel!”
January 20, 2023
I CRIED.
July 20, 2023
More 2.5 stars. Decent quantum leap story but the writing was confusing sonetimes
August 15, 2014
I will admit that this was a harder book for me to connect with than I was expecting. Partly because (and I think erroneously on my part) that a TV series tie in would be less challenging or thought provoking or that the storyline was actually quite subtle and obscure - yes there were some very obvious aspects but they could just as easily be red herrings as much as poor plot devices. In the whole I really enjoyed and more so that it reminded me how clever and thought provoking the original series was - it wasnt capture the bad guy of the week or misunderstood monster of the week. It made you look at situations and events more closely and sometimes from an unexpected perspective.
To me this was a greatly underrated series which I think was before its time and which I think is greatly missed - the books, well at least this one certainly reflects that.
To me this was a greatly underrated series which I think was before its time and which I think is greatly missed - the books, well at least this one certainly reflects that.
June 14, 2015
As with most of the Quantum Leap novels that followed, the premise for this is that Sam may accidentally change his own time line, this time because the destination for his latest leap involves his good friend Al. This is one of the better written books in the series, thanks mainly to the writing skills of Ashley McConnell.
August 6, 2016
My notes say I didn't like this one as much as the first QL novel, and I didn't read any more after this. I recall it's an Al-centric story - he's in some kind of male drum-circle thing. It might have made for a decent episode, but as I recall the show was headed toward cancellation by then.
Read
July 10, 2011Not as good at watching the show, but ok books written by people who were not involved in the show. I guess it would classify as "professional fan fiction."
Read
July 28, 2011I love quantum leap.
March 30, 2013
It was good. It was easy to follow because you just had to envision the t.v. show.
March 12, 2015
Sam enters the Admiral's life before Quantum Leap Project.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews