TimeRiders by Alex Scarrow
Science Fiction; 405 pages
Rescued from imminent death, teens Maddy, Liam, and Sal join forces in 2001 Manhattan to correct changes in history made by other time travelers, using a “time bubble” surrounding the attack on the Twin Towers to hide their journeys.
Sam’s review:
Each chapter in this book starts with a specific year and place, most ranging from 1941 in Germany to 2001 in New York. Foster, the TimeRider charged with protecting the world from the consequences of time travel, begins the book by assembling a new team. He plucks Liam from the sinking Titanic, Maddy from a plane about to crash in 2010, and Sal from a burning building in India. These three, along with Bob, their Superman of a robot who is the support for operative Liam in the field, are thrust into heart-stopping danger as they try to foil the nefarious plans of the megalomaniac, Paul Kramer. The TimeRider team faces trouble at every side as they struggle to undo Kramer’s alternate course of history. Their struggle is a suspenseful adventure, a page-turner that manages to avoid confusion as the plot jumps from different times and places. A few details demand that the reader suspend disbelief, but overall the story holds together and is plausible within its own design. The experience of the characters brings up many “What if?” questions as well as giving windows into many critically important historical events, making this book valuable as a discussion-starter.