Genre: Crime Fiction/Historical/Thriller
Description:
“On the second to last day of summer school in 1984, Calvin and Jason
Schott hijack a school bus carrying nineteen students, an unthinkable act of
violence that devastates the community of Brookwood. Thirty years later, twin
sisters and survivors of the ordeal, Brenda and Emily Mashburn, are forced to
relive the kidnapping as they film a documentary about the event in an attempt
to thwart Calvin's looming parole hearing. Meanwhile, Jason fights for his
brother's release, hoping that a reunited family can finally bring peace to
their elderly mother and ease the guilt he feels over his role in the
kidnapping. The result is a feud between the two families, with neither side
willing to back down.
Inspired
by the largest kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in American history, Time Will
Break the World weaves a rich backdrop of place and circumstance-long-term
trauma, dysfunctional family legacies, sibling rivalry, a granite quarry, and
the Los Angeles Summer Olympics.”
Author:
“Aaron Jacobs is the author of the novel The Abundant Life.
Other writing of his has appeared in Tin House, Alaska Quarterly
Review, The Main Street Rag, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn and
the Catskills with his wife and dog.”
Appraisal:
My thoughts on this book could be summed up by
describing this book as a unique approach to this kind of story.
You could almost view this as two short
books with pieces of each alternating. The first book, taking place in 1984, is
crime fiction or a bit of a thriller. A couple young adults from a formerly
well-to-do family decide they’re going to get a bunch of money by kidnapping a school
bus with 19 kids plus the driver and collect some ransom.
The second part of the book, taking place thirty
years later in 2014, looks at what is going on with those involved, both the
kidnappers, their victims, and some family members. It explores how the
experience has impacted their lives and how they react to something involving
the case going on at that point, specifically one of the kidnappers being
considered for parole.
Throw it all together and you’ve got an
interesting story that doesn’t fit the normal patterns for crime fiction or a
thriller, whichever you want to use to describe this, but I found it got me thinking
about a lot of things from different perspectives than normal.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
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