Time Out of Mind

Every time it snows, Jonathan Corbin sees people and scenes that haven't existed for 100 years. Is he being haunted or has he lost his mind? Sturdevant, the psychiatrist his girlfriend Gwen brings in, has another explanation: Jonathan is in the grip of ""genetic memory,'' in which ancestral recollections, like physical characteristics, are genetically inherited. With Gwen and Sturdevant's encouragement, an engrossing saga unfolds, conceiving love, greed, and murder in 1880s New York, and featuring Teddy Roosevelt, Jay Gould and J. P. Morgan, among othersall from the perspective of Tilden Beckworth, by whom Jonathan seems possessed. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Ella and Tilden Beckworth II are out to kill Jonathan as they have all others with knowledge of their family's dark secrets. But Lesko, the ex-cop they've hired for the job, is smarter, tougher and more ethical than they'd expected. Maxim (Abel/Baker/Charley) works up to an ingenious climax, with the vivid cast of characters, past and present, face to face at last. Combining the elements of a good old-fashioned ghost story and a suspenseful thriller, this is an immensely readable yarn. Illustrations. January 24