Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Raised by a single parent in Bower, Michigan, middle aged Emma Merrigan's beloved father died ten months ago. About twenty days ago, a woman looking younger than Emma and identical to a picture of her mother arrived and claimed to be her parent Eleanor. In spite of the nurturing of her dad, all her life Emma was angry at her mother for deserting them when she was a one-year-old. Though skeptical of the claim, Emma rages at Eleanor until the septuagenarian, looking no more than her late twenties, keels over in a coma.
For the next three weeks, Emma stops before and after her work at the library to visit Eleanor. Emma hears tales about other realms while her mother suffers severe nightmares. Emma slowly begins to believe that Eleanor is her mother whose soul is trapped in another realm even as her body is pumped with drugs and held down by Velcro straps in a hospital bed. Then there are the males; one claiming to be Eleanor's spouse and the other declared a rogue by her mother. Emma must decide whom to trust as she realizes she must storm the place her mother's spirit resides in order to save her mother's essence.
BEHIND TIME is an exciting fantasy thriller that takes readers on quite a ride. The story line succeeds because Emma's world provides an anchor to the realm where Eleanor's soul is lost. Emma is the key player though the tale swirls around Eleanor. Emma's reactions from disbelief, to skepticism, to desperation makes believers out of an audience who will want to read this tale and Lynn Abbey's OUT OF TIME.