Sam Faulkner’s mother is dead, his father’s been missing for two weeks, he’s being threatened by a bully at school and he’s just turned 14. Unhappy at his grandparents’ home, having little interest in school, he turns back to his old house, hoping for some clue to his father’s disappearance. What he finds is a way to travel through time. He hops from time period to time period, country to country, convinced he’s following in his father’s footsteps, but never finding him. Wrenched back into his own time, confiding his adventures only to his cousin Lily, he discovers that his body is beginning to change as well. Written in short, almost jerky vignettes, there is not a lot of depth to this story. That may well be in the future, however, because it is clearly just the beginning. This volume establishes characters and relationships without really fleshing them out. That must come with successive volumes, which are sure to follow. Lily has found evidence of where Sam’s father is—being held prisoner in Vlad Tepes’s (aka Dracula’s) castle. Finding how to get there, rescue his father and bring them both home safely is now the mission. A light read, with glimpses into other times and places, with the promise of better to come. (Fantasy. 10-14)
