Time Out of Mind

The last surviving member of his family, Jonathan Corbin encounters bizarre windows into the past--into the lives of his great-grandparents--and becomes caught in a maelstrom of romance and revenge that transcends the barriers of death and time

Every time it snows, Jonathan Corbin sees people and scenes that haven't existed for 100 years. Is he being haunted or has he lost his mind? Sturdevant, the psychiatrist his girlfriend Gwen brings in, has another explanation: Jonathan is in the grip of "genetic memory," in which ancestral recollections, like physical characteristics, are genetically inherited. With Gwen and Sturdevant's encouragement, an engrossing saga unfolds, conceiving love, greed, and murder in 1880s New York, and featuring Teddy Roosevelt, Jay Gould and J. P. Morgan, among othersall from the perspective of Tilden Beckworth, by whom Jonathan seems possessed. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Ella and Tilden Beckworth II are out to kill Jonathan as they have all others with knowledge of their family's dark secrets. But Lesko, the ex-cop they've hired for the job, is smarter, tougher and more ethical than they'd expected. Maxim (Abel/Baker/Charley) works up to an ingenious climax, with the vivid cast of characters, past and present, face to face at last. Combining the elements of a good old-fashioned ghost story and a suspenseful thriller, this is an immensely readable yarn. Illustrations. January 24
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Jonathan Corbin is a man possessed when it snows in New York. But possessed by what? Cars become horse-drawn carriages, and modern buildings recede into those of an earlier age. He pursues a woman who flees into the storm inappropriately dressed against the cold. Who is she? Why is she running from him? Jonathan's memories come in bits and pieces, as he moves backwards in time to become his ancestor, Tilden, while striving to retain his own identity. His greatest fear is that he will get stuck in the past. In the meantime, someone is out to kill him. Maxim slowly reveals Tilden's secrets through Jonathan's struggles and occasional glimpses into the motives of the other characters. While the book is a bit too long, it holds the reader's interest. Andrea Lee Shuey, Dallas P.L.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.