The end was OK and seemed to leave the door open for another sequel. but so much groundwork was established in the first novel 'Time and Again' that this book would come across as much weaker without that background.Īn enjoyable book, but as I have noted, just not up to par with the first. I would not recommend that this book be read as a standalone. A big idea within this book is that World War One was avoided - it didn't happen according to some evidence in the story but then it did because someone travelled back in time and changed something. About Time offers a delightful return to the world of time travel and light comedy that distinguished Jack Finney’s all-time classic Time and Again.The protagonists of these 12 stories are well-meaning but at odds with their surroundings and their lives. The book didn't quite start sinking like the Titanic more like it was adrift without quite enough steam. We see an important event from the first book that was reset, get reset again (slightly confusing). These characters then disappeared from the story. He has extraordinarily vivid memories of skipping a day of school and being at the dock with his father as The Titanic came into New York and the passengers disembarking. One old gentlemen has dual memories concerning the Titanic. Some are investigating what is going on in their small way. History was getting reset and some people were noticing. The characters and setup in the opening pages here showed a lot of promise. One of the strengths from the first book that is missing here is the romance that developed between two of the principal characters. There is some excellent intrigue in here including bits involving the Titanic, a mysterious operative or two, some good bits on early aviators, and the New York Theater and Vaudeville scene of 1912, so I don't want to really knock the book, but some of it such as the theater stuff goes on too long. Unfortunately what seemed like an excellent story soon lost steam and went astray by the middle of the book. When I started to read this I completely got sucked in and thought it was even better than the first. It is set with the present being 3 or 4 years later than the prior book's 1970. This is the sequel to Finney's story 'Time and Again' and was published in 1995, 25 years after the original and shortly before his death.

Jack finney time series