A review by lizziepurpleserenity
Timeline by Michael Crichton

4.5

I really enjoyed this. Crichton's strong point is always in the detail, in this the history and science is thoroughly researched, I learnt a lot (though of course you have to suspend disbelief when it comes to the science - and imo there is a major plothole that I am still confused by

the science in the book explains how the 'time travel' is actually travel to an alternate universe, but the actual story in the book takes them back in time in our own universe, because they dig up a message from a previous time traveller, and one of the main characters ends up buried in a chapel in our world too - this was never scientifically explained

The story itself becomes faster and faster paced, with high stakes and a time deadline, at which point Crichton's prose falls apart a bit - at times it felt like I was just reading someone's quick description of what was going on in a movie - but it was exciting enough to not really bother me, though I feel like the series of set pieces could have been cut a tad shorter maybe.

The characters are fine (my favourite being Chris) although there isn't much character depth or development, however I don't read a Crichton novel for his character work! He did at least try and throw in an arc for a couple of them.

So overall, being the 4th Crichton novel I've read, this did not disappoint and I am keen to continue reading more of his novels!