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Darren Componi is 36 years old, lives on Long Island, NY, and is trying his best to make a living as a Private Investigator. It's not that he can't, he's pretty good at it but he's not exactly happy. He has girlfriend problems, a sister he rarely speaks to, and a mother and father who get a bit annoyed when he misses Sunday dinner with them, which is often. One night, after he broke up, yet again, with his girlfriend, Tanya, he receives an email from a friend, Mike Holmes. Mike is a highly successful fellow PI living in Ohio, and he sometimes employs Darren to help him out. He was once again offering Darren a job. Holmes had been hired by a university in Ohio to find one Jason Caufield. The university said that Caufield was a professor who recently quit and stole some "intellectual property stuff." The university had offered Mike thousands of dollars to find Caufield. Since the man's last known address was in New York City, Mike decided to offer the case to Darren. Darren was in need for some quick cash, so he agreed to look for Caufield. But the money wasn't the main reason he accepted the job. He had gone to high school with Jason Caufield and from what he remembered, Jason was a nerdy little science student who was afraid of his own shadow. Darren couldn't see Jason as a thief and was interested to see how and why Jason had changed so radically in the last seventeen years. With a little help from Jason's mother and a friend who worked for Sprint, he was able to locate Jason. Darren also soon found out that the university wasn't the only group of people looking for Jason. The government of the United States was hot on his heels as well! When Jason was finally found, he told Darren about a machine he invented that would take a person back in time. He started it while working for the government and completed it while working at the university. The government and the university both thought that the time machine belonged to them and they wanted it back from Jason - even if it meant killing him. Darren decided to help Jason elude the government and the university and after much soul searching, he also volunteers to be the first person to test Jason's machine and travel back in time. You have to read a solid two thirds of this book until Darren takes his time trip. The first part of TIME STAND STILL is about Darren, his family, and his high school friends. You need all of that information, because Darren's trip back in time lands him on a specific high school day, some seventeen years earlier. Just before his journey back to the early 1980's, Jason gives Darren some instructions. He's told to choose a day he can thoroughly remember, one that wouldn't be so emotional that he would want to change its outcome. Darren chooses the day he struck out and lost his high school baseball game. That was the game that would have taken his team to the championships. It wasn't until Darren was already back in time and playing the game that he suddenly remembers that it was also the day before his step grandfather had murdered grandmother. TIME STAND STILL presents some fascinating ideas to think about when it comes to time travel. Jason Caufield, the creator of the time machine, was looking for the proof of God's existence. It's his theory that if someone can change what happened in past then there is no such thing as a God. On the other hand, if there is a God with a prearranged destiny for everyone, then traveling back in time can never change the outcome of God's plan. Of course the big question is whether time travel is really possible. At first I thought that the author took too long to get to the time travel section of the novel, but once I got there I realized how important the first 200 pages were. Author John Misak introduces us to the many characters that surround Darren in his past and his present. We get to know them all: his parents, sister, grandmother, step grandfather, and lots of friends. I give Misak a lot of credit for making his characters likeable and each so individually strong that the reader is never confused. We always know who is who in this novel. After a long car chase in the prologue, the book settles down to tell a first-rate story about a man who cares deeply for his family and friends, while also trying to find a way to like himself. Once you get to the end of this book, you'll see that all of the sections, even the prologue, fits right in to make a wholly enjoyable read.. TIME STAND STILL is a highly satisfactory read for everyone. And, if you like books about time travel, you will definitely enjoy this book. I did - a lot!
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2002
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Contact: Sharon Wheeler (shazwuk@reviewingtheevidence.com), Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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