In Times Like These

A Time Travel Adventure

By: Nathan Van Coops

Narrated by: Neil Hellegers

They have a dangerous past. They just haven't lived it yet.

"We broke something. How do you break time? Can something so bad happen that you fracture the world?"

Benjamin Travers has been electrocuted. What's worse, he and his friends have woken up in the 1980s. As the friends search for a way home, they realize they're not alone. There are other time travelers, and some of them are turning up dead.

When Ben meets an enigmatic scientist and his charming, time-traveling daughter, salvation seems at hand, but escaping the dangers of the past may lead to a deadly future.

If he hopes to save his friends, Ben must learn to master space and time, and survive a journey where past and future violently collide.

Start listening to your adventure today, because yesterday may be too late.

©2013 Nathan Van Coops (P)2022 Nathan Van Coops

Far Short of Greatness

The plot had a lot of promise: Due to a lab accident, four twenty-something’s from 2009 are unwittingly thrown back in time into the 1980’s, along with a murdering criminal. The story execution, however, fell short. The main characters were far too similar and extremely vanilla. It was just one of those stories that was good but not great, interesting but not engaging, entertaining but not enthralling. Sometimes I would get to the end of a chapter and not pick the book back up again for a few weeks. Again, it wasn’t that I was bored or annoyed or angry about the story, I just never got completely hooked. The reader had the same issues: Good but not great. He definitely missed an opportunity to add some creative elements to try and make the characters more unique and distinguishable.

I’m still on the fence about committing to the series. I wouldn’t even consider continuing on had it not been for the last three or four chapters.

Final assessment: if you are a fan of the time travel genre, this is as good a story as any I have read. If you are a fan of creative fiction looking for your next series hook, I would keep hunting.

Great fun, with decent science behind it

What a fun audiobook! Truth be told, I have a serious love-hate relationship with time travel books. They tend to irritate me, because they become so outlandish and contradictory that they make the show Supernatural seem plausible.

But this one didn't completely butcher current science. It explained away a lot of the complexities in a satisfying (though vague) way. And the characters were worth cheering on toward their goals. It was engaging, enjoyable, not at all flashy or hyped, and easy to read -- exactly the kind of brain candy for when work gets crazy and my mind needs an effortless and fanciful distraction.

I'll definitely pick up the next book in the series, The Chronothon. I want to find out what time has in store next for Ben/Benjamin/Benji and his friends.

Strap on your chronometer, prepare for adventure

Time travel is my favorite genre, and this series is among my favorites. I read the books a few years ago and now I'm back for the audio, which is excellent. Many well-drawn, likeable characters, adventures in different timelines, surprises, and a lot of quirky fun.
I wish I could sign up for Dr. Harold Quickly's time-travel lessons - because of course this is the way it would work! Just be careful and follow instructions. Try very hard not to time-travel into a rainstorm.
So - where can I get a chronometer?
If you enjoy this (and you will), check out Van Coops's Time Travel Detective series, too.

Intricate, adventurous, intense, yet playful

I first read this book a few years ago, and it led me to reading everything Van Coop has done! I’m delighted to report that this new audio version has excellent narration, with a wide range of appropriate inflections, accents, and vocal tones. I love the fact that the author tackles the hard questions of paradoxes and multiple timelines or universes. The characters are relatable and you will be drawn into their twists and turns. I strongly recommend this recording.