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 After her death, he had withdrawn, spending even more time alone, playing with LEGOs, reading, and generally avoiding life.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

What a fun book to read! Lost in Time is the first book I’ve read by the author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sam Anderson, one of the creators of the Absolom machine used to transport convicted killers into the past of an alternate universe, self confesses to the murder of one of his colleagues in order to protect his daughter from being convicted. The story then takes parallel tracks, following Sam as he tries to survive in the late Triassic era, and that of Adeline, his nineteen year old daughter, who seeks the identity of the killer. It’s then that first of the many twists occurs, many of which I never saw coming. Lost in Time then takes many of the conventions we are used to in time travel stories, and flips them on their heads. show more

A minor annoyance was that each short chapter in the first half of the book ended in cliffhanger style. Otherwise, a fast and very entertaining read.

My thanks is to Head of Zeus and to Netgalley for providing an ARC of the book. 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

This was SO GOOD!! I couldn't put it down! I love reading time travel books and this one had so many fascinating twists and turns. Nooo, I didn't quite understand some of the twisting...LOL....probably need to reread those sections. The writing just zips right along, every page a new happening. Riddle is a new author for me and I'm so happy to find him.

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