Book 33: Lost in Time, by A.G. Riddle

 Finished September 24, 2022

This is a tech/adventure thriller along the lines of Jurassic World, but with more mind-bending time-travel plot twists. Some of the technological explanations about how the scientists figured out how to send someone back in time (and eventually bring them back) were over my head and I had to skim. But overall, an intriguing idea for a book and the story was well-told. 

Six scientists (or actually five scientists and one venture capitalist) invent a machine that will deliver packages to consumers instantaneously. But it doesn't work. The packages go to a different time instead. So how to make the technology profitable? Use it in place of the death sentence. Send prisoners on death row back to the time of dinosaurs to fend for themselves and live out their days (however many they might have) in isolation, away from society. 

The problem arises when one of the six scientists is murdered and another is accused of the murder. With his teenage daughter also implicated, the innocent scientist gives a full confession to protect her, is convicted of first-degree murder, and is sent back to the late Triassic period. Now the clock is running and the remaining four must find a way to get him back. 

The author resists the urge to do the expected. I wish he'd followed Sam's experience on Pangea longer. His story fades to black shortly after arriving; we are to understand that he finds a way to survive somehow. But what the author did cover was exciting and unpredictable, which made it realistic. 

Taking center stage at that point is what happens to his daughter, age 19. She becomes a pivotal character and by traveling back in time, finds a way through to her future.  

This was an entirely enjoyable book with real characters, warts and all. The pace was good and the plot was exciting without being exhausting. It's the kind of book that makes you think long after you've put it down.