Timeline starts by providing the reader a quick background in quantum physics research, who the priniciple players are, and that four graduate students learn that this new technology is anything but benign. After the setup, events get werid quick: travellers find a man wandering in the Arizona desert speaking incoherently. At the hospital, orderlies notice that his shirt pattern doesn't line up; an MRI technician discovers blood vessels that don't line up in his fingers. A police officer start to investigate the odd death.

In France, archaeologists are confronted by a map with extraordinary detail that is sent to them by the police officer in Arizona. The company, ITC, providing money for their dig, also seems to have more details regarding the site than they have. Details don't add up, and Professor Johnston, head of the excavation, visits ITC headquarters to investigate. Within 24 hours, his students find a note from him in the dig, requesting help. The students are flown to ITC headquarters, to enter the past, a world of unknown danger, to attempt a rescue.

I could not help but feel that I've read this book before, that I was reading a book developed from a formula: introduce the technology with hints of danger, show a scene of danger or destruction as a result of usnig the technology, send unwitting folks to use or see the technology, have them fight to survive, and then wrap up with the aftermath. In short, I felt that I had re-read Jurassic Park, but with less excitement, and instead of running from dinosaurs, the heroes ran from people with swords.

I was disappointed, because I expected the police officer that appears in the beginning of the book to uncover more evidence, to expose the goings-on of ITC. Several threads that had a possibility of suspense were forgotten, leaving the reader with disappointment.

I felt that the book ultimately did not deliver on its promises. Many of the characters were under developed. A surprise character shows up later, and the way the character is revealed was hard to believe.

Overall, I feel that I got what I expected. An entertaining, if light, read. And yet I feel let down because the story was formulaic, and because several loose ends were not resolved. This isn't the Chrichton books I recall reading in years past, and ultimately is a book that I'd recommend with reservations.