Ghosts of Time-Steve White

Ghosts of Time

Steve White

Baen, Jul 1 2014, $15.00

ISBN 9781476736570

Temporal Regulatory Authority agent Thanou Jason is called back from leave because of a dire emergency.  The late Temporal Service team leader Pauline da Cunha left evidence that proves another nanotech bomb was left in 1865 Richmond.  Though Temporal Service Chief Executive Kyle Rutherford knows the danger of returning Jason to a time and place he (and other teammates) has visited; he assigns him to lead the team of four operatives and civilian Civil War expert (especially on Richmond) Carlos Dabney back to war torn Virginia.

The six person unit arrives in the Confederacy capital in December 1864.  They trek across the cold city heading to the residence of President Jefferson Davis where their local contact with Transhumanist information resides.  Meanwhile the Transhumanists taking full advantage of the fog of war deploy their latest scheme.

The fourth Jason Thanou time travel thriller (see Blood of Heroes and Pirates of the Timestream) is an exciting tale made stronger by the deep background of ravaged Civil War Virginia at a time in which Confederacy leaders know their cause is dying.  The Transhumanists’ plot is cleverly conceived and executed while the heroes struggle to prevent an untimely disaster. 

Harriet Klausner