A Matter of Time

by Glen Cook

Detective Sergeant Cash faces a complicated political conspiracy that involves the past, present, and future

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy

268 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1985

About the author

Glen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing 51 books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In pure Glen Cook fashion, this one is as Convoluted as Fish (CaF™) as it is Slightly Very Good (SVG™). And that's somewhat glorious, if you ask me.

Also, science-fiction + alternate history + detective-type thingie = let's dance and stuff.



Also also, spoiler spoiler spoiler because spoiler spoiler spoiler and stuff. You are most welcome.

P.S. Not sure what the people at Night Shade Books were smoking when they chose that cover but it must have been premium quality stuff, given that the story has absolutely nothing to do with space 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. (Why they didn't stick to the original cover is and forever shall be one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.)
P.P.S. That 3.43-star average rating? People of Despicable Taste (PoDT™) who read the book wrong, obviously.

[William Gerke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cook tries his hand at time travel and alternate history (future?) in this deft novel that, as usual, discards some of the accepted rules of writing to create a compelling mystery wrapped around a time travel adventure with a dash of interesting attempts at prediction.

What I think I found most fascinating was reading this novel years too late. It's set in the 1970s and early 1980s but deals with Vietnam, the Cold War, and at least one potential future. It's a predictive novel that never comes to fruition, but tells as much about what it felt like to live in that time as it does about the plot and characters. One poignant moment is the main characters momentary anger that there is no memorial for his son, missing and presumed dead in Vietnam. Because when it was written, there wasn't. These things we take to be commonplace--POW/MIA, the Vietnam Memorial, the end of the Cold War--they were not always so.

It makes me wonder what things we hold true now (the threat of terrorism? global warming? universal cell phones? doubling of processor speeds? the death of the US space program?) will seem equally short-lived and irrelevant in a mere 30 years.

[Paul Grubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I feel I must inform everyone that you absolutely CANNOT judge this book by its cover. I have NO idea why they chose to show a person in a space suit. I can only imagine that they had a sweet picture they wanted to use, so they just slapped it on the next book that came along. There is absolutely nothing in the book - no scene of any kind - that resembles the image on the cover. None. At all. It's very strange.

Anyway, with that out of the way, I did really enjoy the book. It sort of reminded me of Tim Powers's The Anubis Gates in that it had so many fun components to it. Despite the fact that it is unquestionably a science-fiction novel, it reads most of the time as a good old-fashioned mystery. The tricky part - for the detectives in the book, as well as for the reader - is that the murder can't be solved by conventional means. As the story supplies the reader more details as to what's really going on, it raises the stakes for the investigators to think outside the box. I found myself flying through the pages as I approached the end of the story, all the way to an exciting finale. It's a lively, thought-provoking, entertaining read with interesting, life-like characters who have compelling motivations and back stories.

The only reasons I'm not giving it a full five stars are: 1) one character (the primary villain) was introduced as and remained somewhat of a caricature (a stark contrast to the other characters) and 2) part of the impetus for the plot unfolding as it did wasn't explained in a scientific way that made a lot of sense. Still, I really liked the blend of genres and the humane discussion of real life problems set against a fantastic sci-fi backdrop. Highly recommended.

[Isaac Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Matter of Time was a great read. Cook does a masterful job at blending three timelines into one cohesive mystery. I enjoyed tracing the three stories and following the reveals as they intersect.

I see how readers could get confused or frustrated by the multiple timelines and the characters involved, it is a lot to juggle, but well worth the effort.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really 3.5 stars. Glen Cook is a good writer who can move between different genres. My few thoughts about this book are:

1. I find it amusing that I read this book in 2011, that it was first written in 1985 and that most of the action takes place in 1975.

2. I do enjoy reading reprints of old sci-fi or fantasy novels. Some hold up better than others. This one holds up for the most part. Parts of the novel definitely feel dated, especially the cop stuff. But I was not too bothered by it. After all this is not supposed to be CSI.

3. I do not want to give away any spoilers but I am not sure all the time strands hold up in the end.

Still I was entertained and overall I liked the book. An average sci-fi thriller.

[Dev Null · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up the other day and quickly realized I'd already read it, but finished it again anyways. I very much enjoyed it, but that may say something about the book; it's very well-crafted, but it isn't the most memorable story ever.

That sounds like criticism, but really it isn't. It's just that the beauty of this story is in the details of the world, and the depiction of the characters, but they are at heart normal people living humdrum lives in an everyday world. Extraordinary events happen around them, but somehow those don't really feel like the focus of the story. That lack of focus can make the pacing feel a little ponderous - this is definitely not your Indiana Jones in Space science fiction - but I think that it's well worth the ride.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've read any of the Garrett stories, you know Cook is great at the combination of science fiction, fantasy, detective work, and alternate history. I didn't start out wanting to keep this one, but it's going on the shelf.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the strongest parts and the fact that I almost re-read it to backtrack the threads. In places, it's like Heinlein's Time Enough for Love with its layers and interesting absurdities.

The Carlucci books do the marriage of science fiction and detective tale far better, although it's pleasant remembering those books. Perhaps it's time to read those again- highly recommended to anyone who likes a scifi/detective mix with a strong sense of place (San Francisco is very much a character in the books).

The dated language (women as girls, etc) reminds me of reading anthologies that start with early stories in science fiction- except the 80s isn't particularly early in science fiction! I haven't read Cook before so perhaps that's his style or an intentional nod to the time of many of the events in the book.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the many things I like about Glen Cook (brusque writing style, economy of prose, odd mix of grit and whimsy) I think I'm most impressed with his versatility. The cat can do high fantasy, grimdark, sci-fi, war stories and - in the case of A Matter of Time - a police procedural.

Well, that's not *entirely* accurate, because this slim, engaging yarn crosses police procedural with a time travel story, but it's very grounded for the most part. Cook's usual brisk storytelling is on hand with a sly, blink-and-you'll-miss-it drip feeding of various story revelations that I found really satisfying.

Some moments are very "of its time" (this was written in 1985 after all), but this is another strong standalone from a writer I believe should be celebrated far more than he is.

[Cody Ruch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice quick read. Not my favorite style but entertaining all the same. Cook does a good job creating the timelines, I like the way he organized the chapters on X, Y, and Z axis. The story wraps up easily and isn't bothered by much of the paradoxical issues that can be present in time travel subject matter. His early layout of the Klein Bottle as the main thesis for this book's particular flavor of time travel is exemplified cleanly. His characters seem somewhat truncated but still feel very real. I'm not traditionally a fan of detective novels but I found this one to have just enough science fiction blended in to make it rather enjoyable.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

After following some convoluted, lifetime-spanning, overly-complicated scheme, the reader is then at least hoping to understand WHY. But no, they never get that payoff. Why was everything even in motion? Why was the antagonist even doing what he was doing? Why does the reader even care, because even the main character was kind of unlikeable.

Then the final reveal of what the antagonist was doing and why was absolutely ridiculous. Basically, the entire scheme could have been avoided...by doing some basic investigative police work.

Such a disappointment.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like most of Cook's work, so this one was a surprisingly poor read for me. I enjoyed, for the most part, the sci-fi time traveling parts, but the 1975 detective sections were a chore. Too many characters that didn't add anything to the book. I'm also used to Cook's excellently written morally gray characters, but every man in this book is just an adulterous lecher. Whatever interest was added by the sci-fi elements were drowned by characters I just didn't care about.

[Kirby Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s a great premise here, but unfortunately just never really comes together. It feels very disparate. Cool has done much better.

[Paul Rubin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off well, but lost me along the way.

[Mary W. Kellar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An epic yarn...

Glen Cook is a master at weaving tales, he's accompanied me on 4 continents over 25 years and never ceases to amaze. This tale should be a movie...

[Alan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book looked like it could be cool, promising a mystery that spans multiple eras of time, with characters tracking down somebody threatening to murder someone in the past.

As simple and interesting as that may sound, I found the book to be a total bore. I personally could not connect to the characters at any level; even though the dialogue is colorful enough, I never got a good sense of who these people were, what their motivations were, and what they were even doing. Considering that there are multiple characters being tracked in multiple eras, between the late 1800s to the distant 2050s, I found the story to be (perhaps unnecessarily) convoluted and disjointed. Unable to draw the connections between the past, present, and future, I found myself not really caring for the book overall, and going through it became a chore.

In addition to being unable to connect to the bland characters and mixed-up plot, I also found the language and settings lacking. Very little of each era is actually described, so I never felt immersed in the different places these characters went (which included historic Europe, the Vietnam war, and the future). A little more detail would have definitely been welcome, to help us understand where the characters were at any given time. The only thing that really constitutes this book is the dialogue, which may dig up enough to help readers understand where the characters are. Context, and the information in the chapter headings, prove to be frustrating at times, making the book even less readable to me personally.

The actual writing is okay: I think the author captures the language well, even if he doesn't spend much time on setting. Exposition can be heavy at times, and it makes for a really dry read. It is a trim and to-the-point book, even if the point seems elusive.

I really didn't like this book much, as I found the characters and plot uninteresting. Chances are that other sci-fi fans may enjoy it more, but there are certainly better titles out there to pick from.

2/5 (Entertainment: Awful | Story: Marginal | Book: Average)

[Adam Weiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story involving an ageless corpse, time-travelling communists, brainwashed POWs, a rock star, and a deranged Nazi-doctor from the future. Unfortunately the story really lags when it follows the generic lead police character or his co-workers. I feel the story's mysterious and sci-fi elements greatly outshine the uninteresting police procedural.

[Crystal Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is time travel, multiple murder mysteries, clones, spies, scandals, war, plus brain washing, and a surprise ending. So many genres in only one book.

"He did not really care about Vietnam per se. He was no rabid anti-communist. The system had done wonders in China. Through the later years of the war he had been critical of United States involvement, though for reasons at variance with those vocalized in the streets. Those he could not comprehend at all. They had no apparent relation to reality, only to wishful thinking about how the world should be."

"But there is another pride. It refuses to allow one to live off of the good will of others when one is capable of working. This is a peasant philosophy, perhaps."

"...there is a substitute for experience: Being sixteen."

"They've turned half of downtown into a parking lot the last ten years," the man observed, "and still there's no place to park. I have a theory that says building a parking space spontaneously generates two cars to compete for it."

And last but not least:

"Only the unicorn is more rare than the lawyer without political aspiration."

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that I just never really got into. I got this book a long time ago and always found a reason to read something else. What initially caught my eye is that the cover looks really cool. After reading the book, I have no idea what the cover has to do with the story. There is literally not a single astronaut in the book and no events take place on a different planet like the red sky suggests. I thought the author did a poor job being clear in the first half of the book, because I would often have to re-read a section just to understand what he was talking about. The book got interesting during the last third or so, but it wasn't enough to save it for me. If Cook would have continued the story another couple hundred pages at the same pace as the last 1/3 of the book I would have liked it a lot more. The book felt disjointed, took a long time to come together, and never really provided a reason to get attached to any of the characters.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mix; a time travel / alternate history story told mostly in the style of a police procedural.

Strong concept (not really possible to describe without spoilers) combined with Cook's usual well drawn main characters complete with believable flaws.

Two small annoyances that make this a 3 rather than 4 start book:

The use of minor points of view to reveal information about the complex back-story didn't seem to be ideally paced; the alternate POV explanation often comes too soon after each mystery piece is introduced - I’d have liked some space to try and work things out for myself before the reveal.

The minor characters and alternate view point characters are generally pretty "thin", in a couple of cases the text explicitly describes character traits rather than demonstrating them.

On the whole an enjoyable read that is short enough not to outstay its welcome.

[William P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn that Glen Cook, I never tire of his writing. I've read a lof of his works now and this one is excellent. More tightly plotted than a lot of his stories. There's less of the meandering, chaotic mess you find in his Garrett books, for instance. Though his view on detective work remains very similar. Sometimes his writing gets muddy and/or jerky, and I'm still not entirely clear on a couple of plot points, but in the end they don't really matter. The story is excellent, the characters are starkly human, and the sci-fi elements are pulpy and familiar. All in all, a fun read

[Chris Ingram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well plotted and tight prose, like just about everything else by Glen Cook. Essentially a police procedural type story, with time traveling conspirators as the macguffin. Even though it was written quite a few years ago, because most of the action takes place in 1975 or further back in the past, it doesn't seem dated. And the 'future' events between the 1980s and the future of 2058 (where the time travelers are from) is left vague enough that it doesn't feel overcome by current events.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was really good for the most part. The POV shifts were fairly standard. It seemed sometimes the author would switch randomly from using a character's first name to last name to nickname. This got confusing a few times. The ending felt somewhat rushed and I wish there would have been more content building up to the last two pages.

[Steve. g · Rating 2 out of 5]

S'alright..Terrific idea. Great scope in the historical and futuristic threads, and the state ideology link throughout gave it clout. But it was clout that had no pay off or counterweght. Centering the story on a tired old cop and his buddy and all that police station bickering tied the authors hands...a bit, I thought. Like Kojak meets Tales of the Unexpected.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing tale of accidental time travel and the paradoxes of time travel versus alternate universes interspersed with the obsession detective fiction. The obsessions of the primary character, Homicide detective Norm Cash, combined with his limited perceptions of his friends and family, drove the story onward.

A good read for time travel fans and/or detective fiction fans.

[Matti Tornio · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I'm a big fan of Cook's fantasy and scifi writing this book didn't really work for me. Premise was interesting enough but unfortunately the book hasn't aged well over the years. Additionally, the separate story threads never really came together in a satisfying fashion and the ending felt extremely rushed.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, part mystery, part sci-fi. No spoilers here. It made me think of the short loved American TV show Life on Mars-but that's because it deals with cops in the 70's, for much of the book...

[Falbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always hate time-travel books that rely on some nebulous 'tachyon fields' and don't look into any of the science behind what they are trying to accomplish, but the detective novel aspect was at least fun to read.

[John Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! A great detective thriller with some clever sci-fi twists.

[Foxtower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Good!