 Timeline (1999)
Crichton books are printed candy bars—satisfying and empty, compelling and accessible, predictable in the best possible way. I even get the same post-candy bar twinge of guilt: "Why did I do that? That wasn't worth the effort, and it didn't even last that long. Ah fuck it, can I have another?"
It's like he's tapped into that part of our collective brain that loves McDonald's, but only in absolute secrecy … or inevitably finds our way to the Persian Cat House with the last of our mad money and a burning need to spend some time with Desiree DeFonda, the little minx.
Timeline is among the better of his recent work, way cooler than Rising Sun and Disclosure, but still not quite as fun as Jurassic Park.
The book is basically a time-travel movie (it reads like a movie; it was surely intended to become a movie), though cloaked in Crichton's happily obsessive research. A bunch of quantum physicists find a way to move people and objects back and forth to the past, and through various plot mechanics the physicists have to ask a group of medieval scholars to go back to the Middle Ages to save someone from modern day who's stuck in the 1300s.
There's lots of easily-understood science talk, and tons of juicy medieval detail which I enjoyed despite my total lack of interest in that time period, or any other era prior to the future. I always enjoy that Crichton bases his stories in a cloak of reality, then pretty much does whatever the fuck he wants after that. If only my own Cloak of Reality were as consistent.
As expected, there's a series of setbacks for the heroes, a time constraint after which no one can get back to the present, and plenty of obstacles for the scientists trying to ensure the safety of the return trip.
You have to hand it to Crichton, whose writing is clear, concise and completely plot-driven. It's impossible not to keep turning pages (or in my case, wash more dishes while I listen to the illegally-downloaded audiobook).
He can really get technical details across in a way that's exciting. Yeah, there's tons of holes in the plot, there always are with time travel stories (the big question I kept asking was, why don't they just go back to the exact minute the guy ended up in the past, pick him up then and head back home?). But it doesn't matter because he sets up his problems so well that you want to see them solved in the most convoluted way possible … because anything easier would be cheating.
Character development is pretty lame (and he drops quite a few characters in the first chapter), but who cares? Characters in books like this are puppets dancing around doing their master's bidding. One of the medieval scholars is a rock-climber? Great, can't wait for the scene when he gets to climb some rocks.
You see the name Crichton on the cover and you know you're in for an entertaining, forgettable ride. Timeline is no different. But for my money, Desiree DeFonda is just as entertaining and deliciously unforgettable … at roughly the same cost.
Review by Crimedog |