Till the End of Time - Hardcover

Appel, Allen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385249446 ISBN 13: 9780385249447

Publisher: Doubleday, 1990

Synopsis

Despite his seemingly normal life, history teacher Alex Balfour possesses a unique genetic predisposition to transcend the barriers of time, journeying back to 1945, where he is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to prevent the bombing of Hiroshima

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Reviews

Previously met in Time After Time and Twice Upon a Time , historian Alex Balfour has inherited the ability to travel between the present and the past--always to a time and place he's studying, though he can't control when, where or for how long he'll vanish. In his latest, thoroughly absorbing and enjoyable adventure, he is taken back to WW II--first to Pearl Harbor, then to Pacific islands to find information on Japanese atomic research for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. While Alex is helping John F. Kennedy survive the destruction of his PT boat, Alex's longtime girlfriend, Molly Glenn, is researching Japanese germ warfare--specifically, lab tests done with American POWs--for a major New York Times article. Neat, detailed juxtapositions of places, people and the events of Molly's present and Alex's past keep the plot moving; characters, from common GIs to such celebrities as Orson Welles and Amelia Earhart, are likable and human, while Alex himself is a strong, intelligent and sympathetic hero. He manages to return to Molly in time to give her firsthand accounts of Japanese atrocities in scientific labs and to confront an old enemy. In the end, his talent for time-travel sets him down at the point in time where he is most needed. A well-constructed story line, appealing characters and insights into the effects of time on human nature and on one man's actions attest to Appel's continuing ability to keep readers glued to the page.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Appel's latest foray into the time travel genre ( Time After Time, Twice Upon a Time, LJ 4/1/88) finds history professor Alex Balfour transported back to World War II to prevent the Japanese from completing and using their own atomic bomb. By the time he is done, he has taken tea with Albert Einstein, served as Franklin Roosevelt's personal emissary, slept with Betty Grable, and helped the young Lieutenant Kennedy save the crew of PT 109. The author has assembled some believable and very human characters for the bomb scenario, which is exciting and well researched. Alex's less-interesting present-day relationship with a rather stereotypical woman reporter ultimately becomes an intrusion on the more engrossing war story, which could have stood on its own. The novel, which hovers somewhere between science fiction and historical adventure, will have greater appeal to fans of the latter.
- Marcia R. Hoffman, M.L.S., Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385249446
• ISBN 13: 9780385249447
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 405