Paradox Bound by Peter Clines
Crown, 2017
ISBN-13: 978-0553418330
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, MP3 CD.

Time travel. Horror. Thriller. Utter weirdness. Peter Clines has it all covered in Paradox Bound. Those who have read The Fold, Cline’s science fiction/horror hit from last year, will be familiar with Cline’s way of introducing grand ideas, wild twists, and memorable characters. Those new to this writer, expect the kitchen sink. His prose is both lean and rich as he tells the story of a young boy who meets a beautiful oddball woman driving a 1920 Model A Ford, searching for the “real” American Dream. This novel could have been a cheesy mess in lesser hands, but Clines weaves genres together tightly, into a frighteningly enjoyable, breathless ride.

Eli Teague meets Harry(Harriet) not once, but twice, in the strange town of Sanders, Maine, where time seems to stand still, and every day is the “good old days” . She rolls up in her Model A with some baddies on her tail. Eli jumps in to try to help but somehow winds up tied to her and making a mess for her to clean up. The faceless men, creatures or humans without faces, are tracking all of the “searchers,” for the physical American Dream(if the readers can suspend disbelief for this, the book will fly by, with plenty of grins and white knuckles), seeking to kill all in their way. These characters are reminiscent of the Gentlemen from the “Hush” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (without the floating part). Harry takes Eli on a cross country trek that also skips through time, for as long as America has been in existence. Think The DaVinci Code on crack, watching National Treasure, edited by horror writers. To say more would give away the many twists and turns of this fun romp. Give Clines a try– he is one of the more exciting writers to pop up in recent memory.

Reviewed by David Simms