Lost in Time

First sentence: On the anniversary of his wife’s death, Sam Anderson visited her grave. It was a crisp spring morning in Nevada, with dew on the grass and fog rolling through the cemetery. In one hand, Sam carried a bouquet of flowers. In the other, he gripped his son’s hand. Ryan was eleven years old and strong-willed and introverted, like his mother. After her death, he had withdrawn, spending even more time alone, playing with LEGOs, reading, and generally avoiding life.

Premise/plot: Sam and Adeline Anderson find themselves in quite the mess. This father and daughter are suspects in a murder investigation. There is video evidence that they were the last [last to be seen, at least] to enter the victim's home. Nora and Sam were in show more a relationship together. Now Sam may just be exiled...forever...to save his daughter from being implicated as well.

Exiled means EXILED in Lost in Time. Criminals/prisoners are sent to the FAR, FAR, FAR, DISTANT past in an alternate universe. Convicts won't get the chance to appeal, they'll be alive as long as they can survive the elements: dinosaurs, earthquakes, volcanoes, meteors, etc.

What makes it worse for this father of two, is that he is one of SIX scientists who invented the Absolom time machine. It was meant to be a quick new way to "ship" stuff. They didn't know it was a time machine, but not a time machine to their own past, but a multi-verse time machine.

Adeline will do just about anything to save her father [after the fact] even if it means working/living with the enemy.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved, loved, crazy-loved this one. I wish I could find more science fiction like this one. For #lawnerds who also love sci-fi, especially time travel, this one is a dream read.

I enjoyed the complexity of this one. I loved the world-building and puzzle-building. All the pieces, all the clues, are there to be found. But it takes a while for everything to come together. (I was not expecting it to play out quite like it did.)

I really loved the characterization in this one. In particular, Adeline's character. She is our main narrator.... show less

First sentence: On the anniversary of his wife’s death, Sam Anderson visited her grave. It was a crisp spring morning in Nevada, with dew on the grass and fog rolling through the cemetery. In one hand, Sam carried a bouquet of flowers. In the other, he gripped his son’s hand. Ryan was eleven years old and strong-willed and introverted, like his mother. After her death, he had withdrawn, spending even more time alone, playing with LEGOs, reading, and generally avoiding life.

Premise/plot: Sam and Adeline Anderson find themselves in quite the mess. This father and daughter are suspects in a murder investigation. There is video evidence that they were the last [last to be seen, at least] to enter the victim's home. Nora and Sam were in show more a relationship together. Now Sam may just be exiled...forever...to save his daughter from being implicated as well.

Exiled means EXILED in Lost in Time. Criminals/prisoners are sent to the FAR, FAR, FAR, DISTANT past in an alternate universe. Convicts won't get the chance to appeal, they'll be alive as long as they can survive the elements: dinosaurs, earthquakes, volcanoes, meteors, etc.

What makes it worse for this father of two, is that he is one of SIX scientists who invented the Absolom time machine. It was meant to be a quick new way to "ship" stuff. They didn't know it was a time machine, but not a time machine to their own past, but a multi-verse time machine.

Adeline will do just about anything to save her father [after the fact] even if it means working/living with the enemy.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved, loved, crazy-loved this one. I wish I could find more science fiction like this one. For #lawnerds who also love sci-fi, especially time travel, this one is a dream read.
I enjoyed the complexity of this one. I loved the world-building and puzzle-building. All the pieces, all the clues, are there to be found. But it takes a while for everything to come together. (I was not expecting it to play out quite like it did.)

I really loved the characterization in this one. In particular, Adeline's character. She is our main narrator.... show less

The opening chapters of "Lost in Time," by A. G. Riddle, are mesmerizing. In 2027, physicist Dr. Sam Anderson and his fellow scientists create a machine that governments use to exile the world's worst criminals. Instead of incarcerating these felons, the authorities send them back millions of years into the past. This unique punishment has reduced the crime rate to unprecedented lows, since few people would want to live in a hostile environment with no edible food and predators who would likely attack them in short order.

Unfortunately, Sam, a widower who has a nineteen-year-old daughter, Adeline, and an eleven-year-old son, Ryan, will soon learn how dangerous time travel can be. For reasons of his own, he confesses to a murder that he show more did not commit and, as a result, is transported to the Triassic period, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Riddle vividly describes Sam's terror at being tossed about by the sea and desperately trying to reach dry land; foraging for food and water; and scrambling to evade such threats as volcanic lava, earthquakes, and terrifying creatures. The only reason that Sam does not give up is his hope that, somehow, he will reunite with his family.

So far so good. Alas, the author throws us for a loop when Adeline goes back in time to 2008. Although we root for this spunky and intelligent young woman, most of the events that occur from this point onward are perplexing. Riddle's plot highlights the angst of Sam's fellow scientists, Connie, Elliot, and Hiro, all of whom have serious emotional issues; Adeline's transformation from a teenager to a superwoman who can master esoteric information and carry out complex tasks; and an abrupt and far-fetched conclusion. This would have been a more satisfying work of fiction had Riddle written a more lucid and character-driven novel rather than one that is overly reliant on gimmickry and pseudo-science. show less

I should start off by saying that, in general, I hate time travel. I don't like hurting my brain with all the paradoxes, I don't like how it makes things easy for the author to just change whatever they want without a real reason the answer is just "it's time travel stuff". BUT, this was a gift from my father so I decided to give it a try (with my wife).

We both mostly enjoyed it, but hated the ending and how long it was. The book really felt like something you would pickup at the airport. Like a thriller that was written in hopes of a movie deal. The writing was fine and we were very curious about what was going to happen next, but often when things were explained, all the paradox questions would pop up again.

A good tale marred by a flawed backstory

I liked this book. I would rate it higher but for the factual inaccuracy of one of the characters backstories.

Spoilers ahead.

One of the characters has an illness that is revealed to be HIV infection. This is set in the late 2000s. Riddle treats that disease as a death sentence. However, by that time there were very effective HIV medications that had transformed HIV from a fatal acute condition to a manageable chronic one. Having lived with an HIV+ person for nearly 30 years, I know how the treatments have evolved. I also know how hard the fight against the stigma has been. I feel like that backstory is fatally flawed, inaccurate and, for me, at least, takes away mightily from an otherwise show more enjoyable tale. show less

A group of scientists has developed Absolom, a machine that sends the world’s worst convicted criminals back in time, hundreds of years in the past, into the age of the dinosaurs. The threat of this fate had made crime virtually unknown on Earth.

The six scientist who developed the breakthrough - Elliott Lucas, Hiro Sato, Daniele Danneros, Sam Anderson, Nora Thomas, and Constance Niven, now believe they are ready to complete “Absolom Two,” but there is one big problem. One of the six has been killed, and one has been framed for the murder. They all can’t help but think it is related to the development of this new iteration of Absolom.

The murder mystery is couched in an exploration of the possibilities of quantum entanglement, and show more what that could mean for the universe. I wasn’t so sure about the feasibility of the physics part, and there seemed to be a huge paradoxical conflict between two of the characters, but the mystery was good, the dinosaur segments were fun, and the story held my interest. show less

Lost In Time by A G Riddle is a highly recommended science fiction time traveling thriller.
Dr. Sam Anderson and his daughter Adeline have been arrested and charged with killing Nora Thomas, a colleague and lover. Sam and Nora were on the team that created Absolom, the time traveling device that used to send dangerous criminals to the prehistoric past. Even though he is innocent, Sam admits guilt based on a note left for his to find. His admission will send him back in time to the Triassic period. Adeline then devotes herself to uncovering the truth, which ends up involving much more than she anticipated.
Sure, you have to add in a heaping dose of setting disbelief aside, but after that, Lost In Time is sheer entertainment and a show more compelling and interesting time traveling mystery. Yes, dinosaurs are a part of the plot, but in actuality only a small, very gripping part. Although, admittedly, I would have enjoyed more of Sam in the Triassic Period. There is enough to satisfy time traveling fans, while still propelling the plot forward. The bulk of the novel is concerned with Adeline finding out the truth about Nora's murder, prove her father's innocence, and, well, everything involving the development of the Absolom project.
All of the characters are well written. They are complex, sympathetic, and fully realized. Even as each problem the individual team members are dealing with is expose, you will feel support and sympathy for them.
There are plenty of technical details provided, however, you don't necessarily need to follow all of them in order to appreciate and enjoy the plot. Once the narrative alternates between Sam trying to avoid dinosaurs and Adeline trying to uncover the truth, most readers will be hooked until Riddle reaches the end.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Head of Zeus via Edelweiss. show less