TIMESCAPE By Gregory Benford

Published : 1980
Pages : 412
Overall Mark : 7/10

When a young scientist in 1962 starts to receive interference in one of his experiments, he discovers that the interference actually contains messages from someone and someplace unknown to him. The truth that the messages are a warning from the future soon comes to light, but his peers find it hard to believe due to the inconsistency of the messages and he finds himself having to fight to prove the messages to be true.

This is an interesting idea, but the notion could have been explained in a more efficient way. Benford does an admirable job of describing the exact methods of scientists in all the time periods he describes, and keeps the story alive through its realism rather than using fantastic plot devices to further the story. Well worth reading, but only if you have the patients as the pacing is slow.

FATAL VOYAGE By Kathy Reichs

Published : 2001
Pages : 432
Overall Mark : 8/10

Forensic anthropologist Dr Temperance Brennan is called on to help when a plane crash lands in the North Carolina mountains, killing everyone on board, but when some of the bodies raise questions in her mind she finds herself taken off the case and her career on the line.

This is probably one of Kathy Reichs stronger stories as there is a definite focus rather than moving back and forth between the investigations and Brennan's personal life. Here Brennan is faced with her biggest challenge as she is forced from her investigations and has to go over her superiors heads to find out the truth about the plane crash.

UBIK By Philip K Dick

Published : 1969
Pages : 224
Overall Mark : 8/10

When Glen Runciter is killed in an explosion his colleagues start to receive strange messages about their own reality. As they investigate, they discover that they are slowly regressing through time, travelling back as far as the 1930s, and that the only solution to their predicament is a strange substance known simply as Ubik.

This is a completely confusing book, but once you get to the part where things start to get explained it becomes very enjoyable. There are a few set ups at the beginning which don't immediately make sense but, as with most Dick novels, things eventually come together for a very rewarding conclusion.