The Prodigal Hour: A Time Travel Novel [Kindle Edition]

If you were given a time travel machine just moments after your father was killed, what would you do? Go back in time, right? Fix it? Save him? Of course. And that's exactly what happens to Chance Sowin in The Prodigal Hour. At the beginning of the book, Chance Sowin returns home to his father in New Jersey after 9/11 has startled him and made living in New York uncomfortable. But upon his arrival, his father -- a brilliant scientist -- is murdered. He quickly learns that one of his father's inventions has something to do with it. He and his longtime neighbor -- and childhood crush -- Cassie Lackesis unravel the truth behind his father's research.

His father had developed a time machine. Despite the consequences, the two go back in time to save Chance's dad. When they do so, his father tells them about the dangers and beauty of time travel. And off they go -- back to the time of Jesus and Hitler. With hopes to watch history happen, they instead become involved, and it changes everything.

But The Prodigal Hour uses dual narration. Besides Chance, we also learn about Leonard Kensington, another scientist and time traveler. But as we read the chapters he narrates, we realize he has a distorted sense of reality...or rather it's different from our reality. It leaves us to wonder how Leonard is related to Chance and Cassie and when and where they will meet.

Many novels nowadays tend to use 9/11 as a way to entice readers. It's a depressing, relatively recent event to which we can all relate, remember, and grieve over. Often times, I feel 9/11 is abused in books and movies. While September 11th is the starting point of The Prodigal Hour, it's not the focus of the story, and I like that.

And while I'm a big fan of the time travel concept, I must admit the beginning dragged a bit for my taste and was confusing when explaining the science behind the time travel. The Leonard Kensington narration intrigued me, but also left me confused about where he fit into the story.

That being said, the second half of the book was amazing. I had been lost as to why Chance and Cassie travel back to the time of Jesus and Hitler -- and not happier moments in history -- but I later realized it didn't matter in the overall scheme of the story. And as the time travel concept came full circle and brought Cassie, Chance, and Leonard within minutes and cities of each other, I couldn't put the book down. The last half was a whirlwind of crazy time, space continuum, in which I got caught up not only with when and where, but who, what, and why.

I have never read a book on time travel that faced paradoxes as unflinchingly as The Prodigal Hour. Most books choose to ignore them, implying that time will somehow take care of itself, or that time is immutable and cannot be changed. Entrekin's book plants itself firmly in theoretical physics and tackles paradoxes head-on, presenting the reader with a terrifying what-if scenario.

Nor does the book shrink from topics charged with extreme emotion. Love, death, guilt, and responsibility are superimposed over backdrops of the 9/11 tragedy, rise of the Nazis, and Christ's crucifixion. Entrekin doesn't pull punches with his characters, forcing impossible choices at every turn. I can often tell how a story will end, but with this one I couldn't imagine. The twists kept coming to the very last chapter.

The style of the novel reminded me of Michael Crichton or Dean Koontz, filled with unbounded imaginings rooted in science. The prose is fluid and easy to read, with experimental elements that emphasize movement in the novel. Point of view and verb tense shift seamlessly throughout the story. As an editor, I am sensitive to such things, but it was so well done I often didn't realize it had shifted until several pages later.

My only complaint: I was unclear how the episode with Christ advanced the plot. It helped develop the main character and it was definitely interesting to read, but I thought the story would have proceeded the same without it. In addition, I was disappointed that a book which was so uncompromising with every other subject balked at the big theological question raised in the incident: was Christ resurrected? I had a hard time believing that a character with such a deep religious background, who is plagued with doubt and confusion, wouldn't want to answer this question.

There were a few proofing errors and too many commas for my tastes, but overall the quality of the text was good. The ebook format was perfect, with no noticeable problems. Overall, a very satisfying novel.

What would you do if you had the ability to travel through time? Would you try to change something that happened to you in your past? Would you look to the future? Or would you consider some of the horrific events that have happened in our world and try to "fix" them?

Chance Sowin has this very ability thrust into his hands just six weeks after escaping the World Trade Center attacks. He has decided to move back home in hopes to find that security that being home always seemed to offer. Upon arriving him, that security he was searching for is brutally ripped from his grasp as he interrupts a burglary where his father, Dennis, is shot and killed.

The homicide investigation all of a sudden turns on Chance when the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrives. Question after question continue to mount as his father is accused of working with terrorists. A secret laboratory is found in Chance's father's basement. The answer's to these mounting questions are unknown, but Dennis' research assistant, Cassie Lackesis thinks she may know the answers. Chance's father discovered a way to travel through time. The reason for this knowledge? Chance came to Cassie in the middle of the night soaking wet and told her.

Journeying across time Cassie and, especially, Chance will be challenged as to what is right and what is wrong and the consequences of changing history and, not only destroying the universe, but potentially rendering it nonexistent.

The Prodigal Hour by Will Entrekin is a whirlwind ride through time and space. It makes you think...I mean truly THINK about what the consequences of your actions or the slightest chance in a historical timeline could end up doing to the world we currently know as our own. I'm sure everyone wonders if we could save the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust by going back in time and ensuring that a certain tyrant with squinty eyes and a tiny mustache is never born or never reaches maturity. But what if by changing that aspect of our history, we instead set into play events that would be even worse.

The characters in The Prodigal Hour are excellent. I loved Chance, Cassie, their relationship and how it changed as they travel to various times and places in the world. Cassie is a spitfire and I adored her. I, also, enjoyed certain other characters, but I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil parts of the story. The settings were amazingly descriptive and easily visualized. I could tell a lot of research was put into The Prodigal Hour to have such visually detailed scenes that would play out in my head like a movie.

I will admit, there were times near the beginning where I thought the story was going to be too intellectual for me, yet in the very next chapter I wanted to sit down with the author and have a cup of coffee and chat like old friends. The Prodigal Hour touches on the bravery, the heartache, the love, and the loneliness of humanity in their hour of need. It is a smart and wonderful tale that I would wholeheartedly suggest any lover of books to read.