Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Fifty-year-old librarian Emma Merrigan lives alone in a Bower, Michigan townhouse. Emma enjoys her quiet solitude, especially after two failed marriages. When Emma was one, her mother mysteriously disappeared. For decades afterward Emma suffered from severe night traumas that have eased up in recent years.
However, Emma's quiet lifestyle changes when she meets badly beaten law school student Jennifer. She provides Jennifer with a temporary home while she recovers from her injuries. The meeting sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the return of Emma's night traumas. Only this time when she awakens she sees evidence that indicate she traveled somewhere. Emma found a hidden cache of letters from her mother that tells her how to remove curses and that she has the innate ability to travel through time. When Jennifer's boyfriend arrives, Emma believes he suffers from an ancient curse. Emma goes back in time and changes the past so that Jennifer's boyfriend will die. To correct her error, Emma needs the help of a fellow time traveler, a person she does not trust.
Imagine a contemporary drama sprinkled with a few horror and fantasy elements. This is the essence of OUT OF TIME, a very good tale. Emma is a fabulous heroine while the support characters augment the plot with depth. This novel appears to be the first installment of a new modern day fantasy series in which the audience remains clueless as to the overall direction Lynn Abbey plans to take in what is an enjoyable opening act.