cover image Zig Zag

Zig Zag

Jose Carlos Somoza, , trans. from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. . Rayo, $24.95 (504pp) ISBN 978-0-06-119371-2

Somoza (The Art of Murder ) combines elements of SF, horror and suspense in an ingenious novel with an original intellectual premise that delivers a megaton of action and adventure. In 2015, Madrid physics teacher Elisa Robledo receives a phone call that plunges her back 10 years to a time when she worked with famous Spanish physicist David Blanes. Blanes theorizes that by using quantum physics and string theory he can build a machine that will enable researchers to see the past. Elisa joins Blanes and a small team of scientists on New Nelson, a mysterious island where they realize all of Blanes's theories. After intriguing glimpses of dinosaurs and Jerusalem during Jesus' lifetime, the project begins to go seriously awry. People die, the lab explodes and in the end everyone is taken away and ordered never to speak to each other again. Then things get really bad. While not quite up to Michael Crichton standard, this page-turner is sure to please thrillers fans. (Apr.)