The Year of the Ransom

SF veteran Anderson revives his Time Patrol series for this brisk, intricate tale of crime and pursuit across the centuries. The trouble starts when bandits from the far future stage a raid on the fabulous ransom that Francisco Pizarro demanded in 1533 for the Inca Emperior Atahuallpa. In the confusion, a resourceful conquistador steals a time machine, maroons a Time Patrol agent in the distant past and ends up kidnapping the agent's niece in 1985. Anderson's techniquea mosaic of interlocking episodesallows readers to fit the puzzle together for themselves. He also has some thought-provoking ideas on our own cultural myth of historical progress and on the foolishnessand dangerof underestimating people from other cultures or eras. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 12-up. (April)