I found this softcover in this Little Free Library in Sudbury MA while dropping off some books of my own, and nabbed it for another release copy.

I knew going in that this was some kind of time-travel story, but nothing more than that, and was surprised and pleased at the unusual twist this book took on the whole time-travel theme. [Among other jollities, its version of How Time Travel Works - or might work - left open the very real possibility that it was nothing more than mass hypnotism, though one could equally well debate that what we call mass hypnotism is actually some kind of time- or matter-manipulation {grin}.]

Lots of lovely bits here, from the secret-agent-ish opening on. I loved this quote from Danziger as he's about to introduce our hero to his great experiment: "Have you ever given someone a book you enjoyed enormously, with a feeling of envy because they were about to read it for the first time, an experience you could never have again?... Well, that's how I feel about the day you're going to have now." Talk about tempting!

I found myself quibbling a bit - no, a lot - with the methods the experimenters were using to verify that no changes had been made in the time-stream, and can think of lots of ways in which their tests would prove invalid even if time worked the way they speculated. But the fact that they had thought up so detailed and painstaking a scheme amused me very much, and in some ways it does reflect the techniques used to test complex systems to make sure they're not mangling data somewhere. [Of course, I knew from the beginning that no matter what tests they made or precautions they took, somebody was going to mess around with the past. Has there ever been a time-travel book in which people managed not to do that?]

[Another amusing aspect was the whole physical immersion bit - I've done some live-action role-playing in my time, and while we never went to the lengths taken here, we would try to make the environment, costumes, food, clothing, and social behavior as close to period as we could manage. And it's amazing how one's imagination can make the rest of the world fade away... it was always a shock to wander out of our reserved space and spot an anachronistic power line or highway. If we could have kept it up long enough, would we have walked out into a different time? I doubt it - and yet if it happened I wouldn't have been totally surprised!]

The story picked up its pace considerably as it neared its end, and if anything I found some of the drama a bit out of place compared to the rest of the story. Still, Finney wove some unlikely threads together very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It definitely deserves a place on the "top time-travel books" list!

[There's a sequel, From Time to Time, which has some interesting elements but which didn't appeal to me as much as the first book did. And there's a TV Tropes page that may be of interest, but beware of spoilers if you haven't read the book yet.]

Guidelines for safely visiting and stocking Little Free Libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the LFL site here.

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this beautiful fall day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2020 Tick Tock challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2020 Science Fiction challenge. ***