30 December 2007

Books: Three Days to Never by Tim Powers


Three Days to Never is a whirlwind thriller, equal tale of spies mixed with dark fantasy. Frank Marrity is a 35 year-old single father to 12 year-old Daphne. He is a college professor who stumbles upon his secret family history after the death of his mother. In a short period of time, he discovers that he is some how the great grandson of Albert Einstein. And while Einstein’s breakthrough gave the world the most deadliest weapon, he never, it appears, gave FDR one of the most interesting: a time machine.

Now he must pit his wits against a secret society bent on immorality, an apparent paranormal branch of Israel’s Mossad -who seeming want to alter the time line to avert the 1967 Six Days War - a blind woman who “sees” through the eyes of others and a bitter, alcoholic future version of himself.

While it sounds like the book is odd (it is), none the less, its weirdness works. I didn’t understand half of the metaphysics, and sometimes it felt like even Powers did not know what he was saying, but in some ways, it makes the book more compelling.

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