Matthew Bayan

Time Jumper, Matthew Bayan


First Thought:

Started out as a typical government-experiements-to-gain-power story but escalated into something so much more.

Story & Plot:

I like this author’s style of writing. Similar to Any Weir in style and pacing. Explains what’s going on but doesn’t reveal too much. And each detail you read is actually important for later on in the plot.

I thought the author got overdone with the Battle of Anteheim but he was accurate in the historical import and detail of the event. In history, some say that the plans from Robert E. Lee got into the hands of the Union. Though the story is not specific on this point, it is implied how that happened.

Ethan used his gift of psychic insite to enrich himself modestly. This was noticed by others who played the stock market and winning more than usual and reported this to a government lackey, Churchill. Churchill’s idea is to use Ethan in an experiment that increases Ethan’s psychic ability.

In doing so Ethan unleashes power he never knew he had. With the help of the drug he’s able to leave his body as a spiritual being, traverse the universal time lines and is drawn to the Civil War era, 1862. There he meets a cast of characters that bring the story to its end.

Ealier I thougth he got too much into the Civil War era, being pursued and “switching” bodies to find his own true love, lost in a lightning storm earlier in the book. Regardless the pacing was fast and frankly I could not put the book down.

Some loose ends were on what happened to certain characters but even this gets swept up at the end. Did it happen or not?

Final Thoughts:

If you like historical fiction and science fiction with some philosophy on the spirit, mind and body, check out this short Young Adult novel. You’ll be amazed how it all turns out.

Highly recommended.
… (mehr)

Firecracker King

First Thoughts:

Hard to say what kind of book this is. A YA novel for Baby Boomers? How’s that for a dichotomy?

Jake Johnson on a fishing trip finds a dead body and from then on his life is on a weird, wild ride where things and people are not what they seem on the outside.

The murder mystery happens in the small town of Lakeview in the summer of 1965, where boys tease and play firecracker games, blow up stuff and ogle at girls in the window.

The story was one I could on some level relate to since I was about ten at the time of the novel. The author writes very descriptively. You feel you’re there confronting the surly cop, the deadly Mr. Young or his insane son Ralph. Or the joy of swimming as fast as you can in the lake. Or the terror of such!

There were a few times I felt the story meandered some, but then towards the remaining chapters the story veered to the apparent solution of the murder mystery. Or was it? Jake makes his decision.

Final Thoughts: Recommended for the young and young at heart. A Nancy Drew feel to a novelette that promises a hot summer day and deadly nights.


… (mehr)