Time and Time Again

time and time again

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Time and Time Again, a book by Ben Elton | Book review

Four estranged friends reunite and spend the night in a remote country house that was once home to a Manson Family like cult. As the night goes on, the strange rituals in the house's past Lonnie, a crop duster pilot, must lead a mismatched group of survivors to escape the deadly zombie horde after an experimental chemical, intended to control the invasive kudzu vine, transforms the citizens of Charleston, MS into zombies.

A journalist working for a tabloid paper poses a threat to a newly created political party. When the head of the party is confronted by the journalist, he puts a call out to silence him once and for all. A famous model, trapped inside an upside-down car, reaches a mysterious man on her damaged cell phone. However, roadside assistance is the last thing on the stranger's mind. A revengeful father embarks on a dark thrill ride of lost memories, conspiracy and zombie-like symptoms.

Finding the mysterious darkness within is the source of the bizarre world he has uncovered.

Time and Time Again

Once the pact the couple made is broken, their lives are changed forever. Based on the true story of director Greg Carter and his girlfriend prior to their moving to Los Angeles in The Fifth Ward is often considered one of Americas most dangerous neighborhoods, it is the setting for a showdown between doing what's right and giving in to the ways of the street. In order to find yourself, sometimes you need to figure how to lose yourself. Indy film with an ensemble cast that works well.

Dec 17, Maja rated it it was ok. If you had one chance to change history Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you kill? The year is Hugh 'Guts' Stanton, a 'mysterious, tall, blond If you had one chance to change history Hugh 'Guts' Stanton, a 'mysterious, tall, blond and fiendishly dishy Englishman', an ex-Special Forces turned internet celebrity something like Bear Grylls meets Daniel Craig as James Bond , is adrift following tragic death of his wife and children.

Soon, he is recruited by his former history professor and the Trinity Master at the Cambridge University, Sally McCluskey, for a very special mission - to travel through time to and save one monarch Archduke Franz Ferdinand and kill another Kaiser Wilhelm and prevent the Great War.

We learn that this is possible because of a secret discovery made by Sir Isaac Newton so, he wasn't mad after all? And who is better equipped or more entitled to tinker with history than the British? As soon as Stanton and McCluskey steps from and into , the story starts to crumble. Elton's initial tongue-in-cheek description of McCluskey as a Gorgon-like crone - old, fat, booze swigging, chimney smoking, with I don't-give-a-shit attitude - is clearly a poke at the Oxbridge institution.

For a woman to become the Master of Trinity, she would no longer resemble a woman, but an ugly, mythical creature, a she-man. But, soon, too soon, she dissolves into a mere caricature who, when challenged about a historical accuracy of an event, responds with a resounding "Whatever! It seems that Elton doesn't quite know what to do with the McCluskey and consequently she never gets off the train heading to Sarajevo. By now, I started to wonder why anyone would bother spending a small fortune to study history at Cambridge when all they need to do is read Wikipedia, particularly when Stanton starts to wax lyrical about 'the brave and noble' Archduke, who 'like him, had guts.

Stanton fulfils his mission in Sarajevo, but not quite as he planned. You see, it is the women. They are everywhere and it is their fault that he is distracted and makes moronic errors. First, it was the sneaky McCluskey. Then, there's the dead wife who haunts him through time and space.

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In her honour, he has to prove he is the man she once married 'cool, but not cold'. This is why he saves a Turkish woman and her daughter in Istanbul or is it Constantinople. Elton annoyingly keeps switching between the two and is kind to a pretty flower girl in Sarajevo.

Both events threaten to have disastrous consequences on his mission. And then he gets a 'second chance' with Bernadette, Irish suffragette, who Stanton decides is pretty before he even sees her. And of course, she is not only independent and bi-sexual, she is all strawberry blonde hair and emerald eyes. And pubic hair yes, nothing quite captures Stanton's attention like pubic hair of It is love at first, convenient sight.

Of course, we soon learn that Bernadette is only pretending at being a suffragette "Well, I don't know what life you think it is I've dropped, Hugh. I'm the original bored and pointless rich girl. Such a small woman. Somehow, this runaway train makes around the sharp bend and we meet Katie or KT, another time traveller.

Here is the most interesting character, who, unfortunately, arrives too late. I'm sure I will one day forgive Elton for giving Stanton the power of a male gaze to turn a tortured soul to a 'fine, noble face' "Stanton found himself wondering if she might even be beautiful". We get a glimpse of an alternative history, of an Orwellian world that was the result of Stanton's actions, the butterfly effect at its most frightening.

A glimpse of another story that should have been told instead. Time and Time Again promised a lot, but failed to deliver. I wonder what this story would have been like had Elton fully unleashed his satire and his acerbic wit -think Pratchett meets HG Wells. Or, how powerful and poignant it would have been had it been told from KT's point of view. Dec 04, Graham rated it it was ok. The author's style is easy to read.

The book's pace is incredibly fast, one can imagine entire sections of the book translating directly into a series of quick cuts in a film. As such it is a page turner and mostly entertaining. However the premise is fundamentally flawed. Even after observing the effect first hand with his interaction with a flower gir The author's style is easy to read.

time after time

Even after observing the effect first hand with his interaction with a flower girl almost causing an irrecoverable situation. This same blinkered approach is demonstrated by the characters introduced to be members of Chronos in the early stages.

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Who, despite being touted as some of the greatest historians, mathematicians and philosophers Cambridge have to offer, plan a mission to meddle with history apparently knowing full well that by doing so will have have far reaching and more importantly unpredictable consequences. The return through time and up to the completion of the first aspect of Stanton's mission is reasonably well developed and fleshed out. After this stage it is a rushed mess of assassination, love and closed time loops.

I heard Elton promoting the book on radio and was completely taken with the idea. Unfortunately the idea of re-writing history wasn't enough to make for a good book. Dec 29, Kelly rated it it was amazing Shelves: I was torn while reading this book; I am a girl who loves suspense and usually judge a book on just that, so when this book didn't really have any climatic moments I started to slate it. I found myself believing everything that was written; I had to pull myself out of this world to readjust back into this one and to realise that the history I was reading wasn't in fact real.

I have never experienced that through a book before. Ben Elton is quite simply a genius. He made me question everything and has affected me so much more than any other writer has before. I now have to go and research our country's history, just to make sure that I know which one is right! Nov 24, Stuart Anderson rated it it was ok. I was very disappointed with this book, particularly after reading so many positive reviews. In this review, I'm going to include information about the ending, so please stop reading now if you don't want to be aware of that. The premise seemed promising The traditional "hero" who had lost his family being given a magic-like ability to travel to a different world to right the wrongs afflicting the people in his own world as in Frodo, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter etc.

In this story, our hero i I was very disappointed with this book, particularly after reading so many positive reviews. In this story, our hero is going back in time to armed with detailed fore-knowledge of events, modern single-combat training, training in required languages, a working computer! As a premise, what's not to like? But of course, things inevitably don't go according to plan. Besides having to kill his mentor think Gandalf, Obi Wan, Dumbledore by throwing her off a train, he then has to kill an innocent girl while completing the first of his tasks.

Oh well, no big problem It's just what a hero has to do. On a train he meets an impressionable young suffragette and he dazzles her with 21st century pickup lines that would make a modern girl roll her eyes. She thinks he's amazing for "inventing" such terms as "civil disobedience" and "sexual equality" which she madly writes down for later use and he shags her without the slightest sense of irony. Like shooting fish in a barrel really. Which brings us to his assassination of a major political figure, which he does using a modern high power rifle with telescopic sights from the top of a building at a distance not normally possible in Fish in a barrel.

To cut a long story short, things go pear-shaped and no matter what he does, everything gets worse.

He even starts smoking again. When he dies at the end, it seems the message is "no matter what you do, no matter your best intentions, you will be manipulated, you will stuff up and make everything worse So don't even try". I liked the cover. I thoroughly enjoyed this time travel novel, even if, every now and then, I had to fight the urge to to through it at the wall - but that would have wrecked my phone as I was listening on audio! The question was put to Hugh Stanton "if you could change one thing in history, what would it be?

Oh the possibilities are endless. As are the potential reprocessions. His answer is not not the obvious one. Stanton is possibly the worst prepared time traveller I have ever come across. Some of the charact I thoroughly enjoyed this time travel novel, even if, every now and then, I had to fight the urge to to through it at the wall - but that would have wrecked my phone as I was listening on audio! Some of the characters in the book are not well thought out. In places the old Ben Elton humour breaks through. Dec 10, Albert Myburgh rated it it was ok. I like Ben Elton and I really wanted to give this book 3 stars, but decided to be strong.

And that is exactly what it was: Easy and quick to read I felt a little underwhelmed with it although I did learn a bit more about the events that led to the First World War which was interesting. Also, the few smart twists toward the end were quite entertaining, however that was about it. The main character Hugh Stanton is nothing more than a hunky piece of cli I like Ben Elton and I really wanted to give this book 3 stars, but decided to be strong. The main character Hugh Stanton is nothing more than a hunky piece of cliched-tortured-soul-jock meat whose personality is as flat at the ending as it is at the start.

The author's recreation of a prewar Europe was unconvincing and lacked the rich descriptiveness which could have given the setting a smacking of nostalgic revelry as Stephen King did for the early 60's in " It feels like an entry-level time travelling novel which, although entertaining, is quite forgettable.

A gripping time travelling alternative history yarn. I'm not normally a fan of the sci-fi time travelling genre, but the alternative history scenario caused by stopping the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in lured me in as well as having already ready Ben Elton's The First Casualty and Two Brothers: Elton writes at a breezy pace and although you have some idea of what's going to happen the various twists and turns keep you guessing. An enjoyable and relatively qu A gripping time travelling alternative history yarn.

An enjoyable and relatively quick read, as well as a fascinating "what if". Be careful what you wish for The premise of this story sucked me in straight away; if you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change? Anyone who loves History has played at What If? He wants to prevent WWI saving millions and setting the twentieth century on a less destructive path. Well things were never going to be that straight forward! Added to this is the fact that the author leads us to believe The premise of this story sucked me in straight away; if you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change?

Added to this is the fact that the author leads us to believe one thing when the opposite is true. This is an extremely intelligent and engrossing story that had me hooked til the very last sentence. Dec 04, Willem van den Oever rated it liked it Shelves: Ever since Michael J. It can be bloody dangerous and problematic too. Here, our hero is called Hugh Stanton, a traumatized loner with a past. Or rather, a future. Having been sent back in time by a shady company, Stanton — an ex-soldier and celebrated adventure — is given a chance to prevent the most catastrophic event of the twentieth century from ever happening at all.

Once, the assassination of an arch duke in Sarajevo plunged the world into a terrible war. But will the century really be saved by stopping a single bullet from being fired? In a good way, though, as it signals from the start how cleverly Elton has plotted out his novel. While at the same time still retaining that adventurous spirit.

Tempo-wise, the narrative shocks and bounces like a breaking steam-engine between long dialogue scenes and explosive action sequences. And all the while, Stanton — who started off being such an interesting, troubled lead — refuses to come out of his shell and become a more complex character. Besides the flat side-characters, never really comes alive in this book either. Studios and producers need little imagination to understand how well this idea could be turned into a feature or TV-show.

A shame, because Elton has opened up a wonderful opportunity with this concept. Throughout, he continues to be the agent for the mysterious brotherhood. He never really leaves that assignment behind to make his journey more personal.

I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this one for ages! Hugh Stanton is an ex-soldier in who has suffered a terrible loss, loosing his wife and children in an awful accident. It seems he has nothing to live for. A meeting with his old professor of history at Cambridge reunites him with his past and a future, a mission linked to Sir Issac Newton's theories of travel in time. The Professo I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this one for ages! The Professor reveals a plan to use Newton's secret passed on by professor to professor in Cambridge to use his theory of being able to travel back in time to to specifically stop the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and then on to kill the Kaiser, leader of Imperial Germany.

The aim to stop the First World War from ever happening and create an alternative 20th century, peaceful and more prosperous. What follows is a superb thriller of historical proportions, entertaining, riveting and keeps you hooked from the beginning to the highly unexpected twist at the end.

I won't reveal anymore other than saying this story doesn't end how you think it will Jan 24, Melliott rated it it was ok Shelves: At the risk of being repetitive, I will echo others' reviews when I say that I liked the premise but the story fell a little flat. I had trouble getting into it from the beginning. There wasn't enough lead-up to the involvement with the Chronos people. I disliked the character of McCluskey from her first appearance and never changed my mind on that.

The protagonist, Hugh, was self-involved and a bit arrogant, leaving his development flat and two-dimensional in some ways; and despite the saga of At the risk of being repetitive, I will echo others' reviews when I say that I liked the premise but the story fell a little flat. The protagonist, Hugh, was self-involved and a bit arrogant, leaving his development flat and two-dimensional in some ways; and despite the saga of a continuous months-long prep period for traveling back in time, the minute he "got there" he proceeded to use so many anachronistic bits of language designed to betray his strangeness that it was obvious he didn't give much weight or importance to his preparation.

I thought the romance was stupidly contrived, and was presented in quite a shallow manner. An adult case of insta-love, as they call it in YA fiction. And Hugh's animadversions on the contrast between female grooming habits of vs. The best bit of the book was the last pages, when he discovers he's not the first time traveler to attempt a correction to history, and it's too bad there wasn't more focus on that instead of all the tedious detail in the middle. The protagonist was repeatedly described as having straight blond hair. So why is the guy on the cover pictured as a brunette?

Gee, I started out thinking I had liked this book a lot more than I did, as it turns out! This one was only a fairly middle of the road read for me. While I liked Hugh a lot and the novel's premise, and I found the two main female characters in this book to be be poorly developed, which is a pet peeve of mine in books. Professor Cluskey seemed to be the stereotypical cold and calculating female academic who doesn't have any children.

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This is a fairly common trope in books. I don't think that writing her in this manner was necessary to the plot. I'm also curious as to whether folks felt This one was only a fairly middle of the road read for me. I'm also curious as to whether folks felt like the deliberate killing of Hugh's family was really necessary.

Unfortunately it's largely devoid of both. Instead it's much more mainstream and feels diluted so as to appeal to the masses. There is a good story though, revolving around an ex-SAS soldier who is chosen to go back in time and prevent the first world war — the argument being that preventing the first world war would prevent the second and bring an era of peace our world hasn't known.

time after time

Of course anyone who has seen or read a time travel story knows that it's never as simple as that. The story moves between the past and present, the former being described in great detail — such that it almost feels like you are there. The authors intelligence and talent as a writer really shows here however without his more absurd humour it does feel a little too serious.

The protagonist Hugh Stanton is a grieving widow who takes some convincing to become a time-traveller but the grieving widow thing does feel a little overplayed and part way through the book I did feel like telling Hugh to get a grip of himself. He is though all action hero and the depiction of his legendary combat prowess and abilities are also a little over-the-top — one of the weak points of the book. The other issue is one of balance. Yes we've got the wonderful ambience of the early 20 th century but partly as a result and partly due to the plot being sidelined a few times the last 50 pages seem so much more weighted to moving the story forward and time travel related shenannigans.

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