LitPick Review
When an average summer afternoon is interrupted by the arrival of some odd-looking people searching for a mysterious object with a ‘thermal switch’, it at first seems a welcome distraction; but things soon turn into something much more serious, as the fact is revealed that the people are time traveling super-criminals and the thing they are looking for is a ‘temporal device’ for traveling through time and space. Things become dicey when the device transports the Brewster Boys (Jon and Pete), and their friend Abby to Pearl Harbor the day before the Japanese attack, where they discover a plot to prevent American entry into WWII. Will they be able to get back to their own time? Should they stop the plot, and, more importantly, can they?
Opinion:
I was surprised to find (after I had finished the book) that this was the author’s first novel: I would have expected that the quality achieved here would require more experience, I can’t wait to see what comes next!
Writing-style
The writing-style was good, well-balanced, and engaging, so engaging that once I started I could hardly put the book down! It was well-balanced in that it was simple (in a good way) without being watered-down at all.
Plot-line
The plot-line was incredible: not just your everyday, run of the mill super sci-fi time-travel adventure novel, this was a spectacular sci-fi time-travel adventure novel! Not every author can put a half-crazed 21st century granddaughter of a NAZI atomic scientist in charge of a bunch of 1930s New York mobsters, give them a bagful of futuristic mad-science gadgets, and not make a comedy; but Stephen Dittmer makes it so believable that, after reading the book, you will find yourself looking over your shoulder constantly, just in case.
Character Development
The plot starts off right away, so the characters have to hit the ground running, which gives the initial impression of poor development; however, they soon catch up, and after a few chapters I felt like I knew them really well.
Dialogue
Dialogue was well-written. Comic relief was used fairly heavily, but not overly so.
Conclusion
I found the book to be a fine read, with a good writing-style. The plot-line was original, yet believable. The character development was good, as was the dialogue.
