Rating: 
Summary: read Doomsday Book by Connie Willis instead
Review: Standard Crighton fare -- formulaic writing, virtually no emotion (does anyone care what happens to the characters?), and stunningly inconsistent. If the characters are popping off to alternate universes instead of actually traveling in time, how does the note from Professor Johnston end up in this universe? And what's with Doniger's silly explanation about how you can't change the past? Crighton hasn't written an interesting book since Eaters of the Dead (which was the last time he actually took a chance -- I guess that book's lack of commercial success taught him a lesson). Do yourself a BIG favor and read Connie Willis' Doomsday Book instead. It's far superior in every way.
Rating:
Summary: Well, at least he tried.
Review: Perhaps there is a parallel universe in which Mr. Crichton's writing includes things like character development, logic, and sentences with more than half an idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Not great literature, but who cares?
Review: This book was fun. I enjoyed it immensely. That's all there is to it. Light reading - liquid, fast-moving plot, interesting and consistent characters, and what appears to be a bit of well researched fun from the past.Go for it. Think of it like a Hamburger.. it's not Filet Mignon, but it's as enjoyable or more.
Rating:
Summary: Technothriller
Review: I read this book because it was the #1 technothriller listed on the bestseller list. I'd read Clancy's before and earlier Crichton. This was all right. But who the heck is this guy Donegan who has these other books ranked here? Read Atlantis and the next two. Great stuff. Also recommend SEAL books by Marcinko.
Rating:
Summary: Keep razor blade, gun, or large supply of barbituates handy
Review: If you decide to read this book, you will need at least one of the afore mentioned items in your possession. How long you manage to last before needing to end your life depends on how tolerant you are of horrid, insulting storytelling.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Crichton
Review: Where do I begin? Well, how about this: this novel is like all of Mr. Crichton's other novels. The characters are all as flat as glass tabletops (I could hardly distinquish between the two male protagonists). The premise is absurd (like someone has mentioned earlier: if they visit an alternative universe, how did the Professor's glasses show up in OUR reality?). Smart people within the story do implausibly stupid actions strictly to advance Crichton's preconceived storyline (the 2 security guards argue over a trivial matter so as to be able to be easily dispatched by the villains in a cartonish scene so as to leave our 4 heroes without protection for the rest of the story!). The dialogue is laughably cliched (a villain to heroine: "See you in hell"; heroine's reply: "You first."). I could go on, but I'll stop here. This has to be Crichton's worst novel since The Lost World. I read The Lost World in 4 days. I read Timeline in 3 days--WHILE on vacation in Tunisia. I read the novel like a junkie injects heroin. Despite all the above-mentioned problems, the novel is an action-packed tour de force, a prose version of an action-adventure movie full of sword fights, medieval romance, a castle seige AND a castle raid, etc. It takes you out of your tedious life and suffuses it with excitement and romance so very, VERY well--which in my opinion is what novels should do. So buy this book, and approach it like watching Gladiator. You know it's just a stupid adventure story, but so what? Like Ridley Scott's film, Crichton's novel is a very, VERY well-made stupid adventure story!
Rating: 
Summary: Ok reading but nothing special
Review: For a good bit of Timeline, I thought I would end up rating it very highly. However, eventually all the flaws in the book added up to a mediocre novel. Regarding Crighton's explanation for time travel, at times he tries to go into excruciating detail but then glosses over some issues regarding time travel with absurd analogies, particularly about why a person going to the past can't have a strong affect on the course of history. Overall, I found the explanation for time travel inconsistent and unbelievable. I probably would have enjoyed the story more if Crighton had just written that the characters invented a time machine and left it at that. As far the main substance of the story, the adventures of the characters in the past, what I thought would be a story of intrigue with some action scenes thrown in quickly turned into a Schwarzenneger movie filled with one fateful coincidence after another and characters who seemingly can take plenty of damage but still run, jump, and fight with gusto. Falls of ten or more feet are nothing to these characters. Like any good action movie, the characters again and again escape a hail of projectile fire without being killed. Crighton takes pains to explain that fourteenth century people were a hardy, strong, and skilled folk, yet they constantly have trouble in combat with the main characters. This was my first, and last, Crighton novel.
Rating: 
Summary: If one wants immense adventure, look no further!
Review: This is swashbuckling material. Very much in a catagory where Crichton exells, the pace and momentum of this book simply do not allow the reader time to pause for breath. Once again, we are bombarded by technical detail, once more we are taken on a stupendous ride through previously uncharted territory. This is exactly the kind of reason why Michael Crichton is such a phenomenal writer. The one thing that did strike me perhaps, is the fact that just like many movies or books of a similar adventurous nature, life and death are only guarenteed at the very last second (in this book, literally). Although I had a sense that this was perhaps going to be a liitle tired and used idea, this did not happen. Quite the opposite in fact. I read with intense anticipation, never totally sure whether it would be happness at the end. And why? Because the book practically wrapped its huge talons around my neck and refused to relent until I had finished. So taken with the twisting plot was I, that finishing the book was the most disappointing aspect of reading it. ENOUGH SAID.
Rating:
Summary: A good book to pass the time.
Review: I bought this book on a whim and took it on a long vacation with me. The subject of the book intrigued me and I was hooked into the story quickly. I was a little put off by some of the scientific mumbo-jumbo, but I know it was necessary in order to explain the whole point of the book. Some obvious and predictable twists and turns in the story were let downs. For example, of course the team gets stranded in the medieval time period and of course they get separated, otherwise there wouldn't be a story. The characters were easy to like or hate, depending on their good or bad behavior and the descriptions were well written. I am always amazed at the amount of research and time that goes into writing a historical or scientific novel and the list of references at the end of this one are proof of the hard work it took to write "Timeline." I would half-heartedly recommend this book to a fan of Michael Crichton or science-fiction/fantasy readers, if that's not you, then try something else!!
Rating:
Summary: a guilty pleasure
Review: Every now and then you come across a book where upon completion you comment to yourself that was fun to read but when you attempt to analyze why, you realize there is little critical justification. Such was the case for me regarding TIMELINE. Crichton did what I found to be a credible job of outlining quantum theory to a novice like me, at least to the point I could except the premise. His vivid descriptions of 14th century medieval France were interesting although at times the characters seemed to be lost in the background, which was just as well since little effort was spent in development. Overall, this book tended to drift from a somewhat cliched, time-travel sci-fi work to revisionist history of the Dark Ages. But, I liked it. I just cannot explain why.
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