Say Hello To My Little Friend

When I first read the synopsis for Monique Martin’s “Out of Time” I was a little confused. It’s not all that uncommon to fuse genres but, time travel and vampires?

I have read several time travel novels lately, and lord knows I’m a fan of the pointed tooth, but mushing these two together seemed a little far fetched to me. So… as per usual (or at least it seems so these days) I strapped on my “Negative Nancy” attitude and started to read.

Dear Monique, I apologize for being a moron.

Not only was this book NOTHING like I had originally suspected; I will (begrudgingly) admit I was completely hooked after 1 chapter.

Simon is obsessed with the occult, and as a professor specializing in “the way of the weird” he has plenty of time to dwell on (otherwise) meaningless facts. Elizabeth, teeny tiny and full of fire, is his assistant. Apart they are stubborn, sarcastic, pessimistic and independent, but suck them into a time traveling watch and plop them down into the roaring 20’s, they suddenly become so much more. Clueless as to how exactly they ended up knee deep in gangsters and speakeasies Simon and Elizabeth set off to get answers. Unfortunately answers come at a price. Broke and seemingly alone, the need to find jobs become blarringly apparent, but with no leads and no experience the plate is pretty empty, that is of course until Elizabeth bumps into a friendly barkeep in the park. Will Elizabeth’s new job put food on the table, or make her the lunch? Will Simon ever stop lying to himself, and the most important question…what happens when your obsession becomes your reality and they want your wife?

Like I stated before I was hooked after just one chapter. Throwing a modern couple into the throws of not 1 but 2 major predicaments was a stroke of genre-hopping genius, and to surround it with the angst and hype of the “Bugsy” age made the read even more compelling. But, prohibition and Coney Island aside, the “thing” that really drew me in, was Martin’s characters. Building successful players is no easy feat, but building them in a time that is not their own is a challenge of another nature. Imagine a girl who stands up for equality and basic human rights… now plop her down in an ally where a guy (who apparently didn’t pay a debt he was owed) is being pummeled.  Now demand that she walk away. Tricky right? Meshing the complexity of a free thinking woman in an age where women were thought of as dames and cat called on a regular basis couldn’t have been easy. Doing all of this while weaving a spindly tale of love and it’s ultimate evil only solidified the presence of Martin’s natural talent.

Keep a close eye on Ms. Martin my friends cause I see sparkly wonderful things in here literary future.

This one is a keeper folks. Get it, Live it, Love it… pass it on.

Happy Reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember: No good can come from a man that calls himself King.

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