Big Time

This is a thriller with an unlikely heroine, a middle-aged woman stuck between raising a spirited teenager and caring for a stubborn mother, working a routine job for the FDA, that most glamorous of federal agencies. She's pulled into finding out what happened to a patient with an unusual device, a woman with varying memories of what brought her to a hospital in Maryland, a woman who was kidnapped for unknown reasons, by the third woman in our tale, a dogged and relentless woman currently attempting to complete her assigned task despite losing an eye along the way. As the paths of these three women converge, the story is about research into being able to transplant time from one person into another and what happened next.

Winters can be show more relied on to tell an entertaining story and here he certainly does that. That Grace spends most of her time dealing with family issues and the time-wasting activities of office life are a welcome change from the usual thriller protagonist who is free to devote himself to dealing with bad guys at all hours. No, the time travel aspect does not hold up at all under scrutiny, but if you're reading a thriller looking for solid scientific proposals, you're looking in the wrong place. Winters writes well and knows how to pace things and I enjoyed this romp quite a bit. show less

A briskly moving story about a woman who’s kidnapped away from her infant daughter—except that she starts having memories of a different life entirely, perhaps related to a strange drug port on her chest. An FDA official tasked with investigating the source of the port becomes involved—as does the woman who did the initial kidnapping. Very noir ending.

A mind-bending premise, but unfortunately, I think Winters only scratched the surface of his idea here. What should have been a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller somehow fell flat. I'm not sure what was lacking, except that I just think the story wasn't fully developed and read more like a draft to me. I was disappointed because I usually love Winters' books.

Very interesting premise and written in an engaging, page-turning fashion.

Can you steal time from one person to give it to another? That is the question in this novel. Allie is kidnapped by Desiree. When she asks Desiree about her baby, Rachel, Desiree is confused. Allie escapes. Allie is found and taken to a hospital and she asks about a Portacath that is in her chest. She doesn't recall this, and is confused.
Later, she is with Missy, but Missy calls her Ana. Ana's mother was Rachel.
Meanwhile, Grace Berney is an investigator with the FDA, and she hears of Allie. But then, no one wants her to follow through. With her non-binary child, River, Grace tracks the disappearance.
A scary scientific experiment. Chilling.

Ben Winters saw the film "In Time" and decided to write the prequel that explains how the manipulation of bodily time comes about. It's quite a good book whether or not you've seen the film.

Unlikely hero, unlikely crime, likable tale.