Timeshift

Timeshift is a science fiction novel by Philip Ellis Jackson.

Sometime in our near future the united states will separate into two different countries, a bit after that we have a small nuclear war and after that some moron releases a new life-form that eats everything in its path and leaves the surface of Earth covered in a grey ash.

So about fourhundred years in our future everybody lives underground, including the young Paul Thorndyke, the hero of this tale. Oh, I forgot to mention that after people started moving underground some wiz invented a machine that can look back in time, by using something that Jackson calls Beta light, which is some kind of, to us, unknown light particles that for some strange reason gets recorded somewhere in the Earth’s magnetic field. Jackson makes a few feeble attempts at explaining how this works, but doesn’t go into details, which is probably a good thing as it is all rather unbelievable, but hey, I’ve seen worse.

Thorndyke, is young, handsome, charming and quickly gets the girl and the idea that something isn’t right at the Beta Light recording studio where he just got a job. A friend who everybody swears couldn’t hurt a fly, is convicted of killing another man and as good as executed. Soon he has to fight for his and his friends life. Fairly basic conspiracy and hero stuff makes up the rest of the book. Fairly nice read, that has it’s moments. I could have wished for a few more "moments" and a bit less silly science, though.