Rating: 
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: A unique perspective of first century Judaism and the beginning of the Christian Church. Rivka, a Messianic Jewish Archeologist, and Ari, a Jewish Physicists find themselves in first century Israel. Together, they attempt to thwart a plot that would change history and, if successful, prevent Christianity from spreading beyond Israel. Rivka battles with her Jewish lineage and her concerns of Christian authenticity. Ari is in constant turmoil over is Jewish beliefs and is belief in science. Dr. Ingermanson has done a wonderful job developing the characters and the Plot. When Rivka finally meets `Renegade Saul' (Apostle Paul) it brought, to me, a fresh understating to Paul's hardships in the early church. I'm an Avid reader of Science Fiction, Historical Fiction and Fantasy. Dr. Ingermanson brings all three genres into a single, wonderful story. I look forward to the sequel, Premonition.
Rating:
Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: A unique perspective of first century Judaism and the beginning of the Christian Church. Rivka, a Messianic Jewish Archeologist, and Ari, a Jewish Physicists find themselves in first century Israel. Together, they attempt to thwart a plot that would change history and, if successful, prevent Christianity from spreading beyond Israel. Rivka battles with her Jewish lineage and her concerns of Christian authenticity. Ari is in constant turmoil over is Jewish beliefs and is belief in science. Dr. Ingermanson has done a wonderful job developing the characters and the Plot. When Rivka finally meets 'Renegade Saul' (Apostle Paul) it brought, to me, a fresh understating to Paul's hardships in the early church. I'm an Avid reader of Science Fiction, Historical Fiction and Fantasy. Dr. Ingermanson brings all three genres into a single, wonderful story. I look forward to the sequel, Premonition.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely incredible
Review: Another of Randall Ingermanson's books, he uses his impressive scientific and Biblical knowledge to write an incredible story. Rivka Myers finds herself used as an unwitting guinea pig and sent back in time to Ancient Israel! Fortunately, she is skilled in ancient linguistics, and manages to get around town pretty well...until she is mistaken for a prostitute. (Cut-off jeans, and no covered hair...shocking!) A "fellow" prostitute covers for Rivka until she can get her bearings and recover her modesty. She soon learns that the "mad" scientist who sent her back in the first place has followed her into his "wormhole" and into Ancient Times. Rivka must find out why, while also dealing with a new friend coming to her rescue...even after they had a fight. I have it from a good source (the author) that his book is only the first of three (or was it five?) books in this series. This book is incredibly well-written, entertaining, interesting, believable, and action-packed. There's twists and turns all along the way, and the fun's not over yet! Buy this book, and be on pins and needles for the next! One question: It's never made clear why this book is called Transgression. Perhaps it will in future books, but for now, it's a mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Lost and can never go home
Review: As the plot has already been summarized, I won't rehash that again. However, I will say that this book is part of a series. Therefore, the most excellent cliffhanger ending will eventually be resolved. Now, on with the story. All the major characters are people with whom you can easily sympathize. The author did a most excellent job in creating 3-D people who live and breath. On another note, the author is to be commended for spotlighting the tensions between Judaism and Christianity, both now and two millenia ago...
Rating:
Summary: Time travel at its best!
Review: I love hard science fiction (NOT fantasy) and time travel is my favorite theme--when it's done well. Transgression is truly a remarkable mix of science, adventure, history, religion, and even romance. The balance is perfect. This is the first book I've read by Ingermanson, but now I'll read the others for certain. I do highly recommend Transgression--reading it is like taking a vacation into the past. As a Catholic, I enjoyed the Christian slant to it. I really can think of no criticism--definitely 5 stars!
Rating:
Summary: Time travel at its best!
Review: I love hard science fiction (NOT fantasy) and time travel is my favorite theme--when it's done well. Transgression is truly a remarkable mix of science, adventure, history, religion, and even romance. The balance is perfect. This is the first book I've read by Ingermanson, but now I'll read the others for certain. I do highly recommend Transgression--reading it is like taking a vacation into the past. As a Catholic, I enjoyed the Christian slant to it. I really can think of no criticism--definitely 5 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book based on the reviews . I was quite disapointed. I found it to be very simplistic in both story line and laungage. As well as being extremly predictable. I love novels about time travel and "Jewish fiction" is my weakness, but this book unfortunatly left me very unfulfilled.
Rating:
Summary: What a Trip!
Review: I was skeptical. Time-travel and wormholes, Jerusalem and an attempt to assassinate the Apostle Paul? Great concepts, but could this new author pull it off? Ingermanson not only pulls it off, he tells a story worth re-reading. I was impressed. "Transgression" works as a historical/futuristic suspense novel--and, on top of that, offers theological insights. This story of Rivka, an archeaology student, and Avi, a physicist, is suspenseful and taut. The dialogue is crisp, with subtle depth and honesty. As his characters took form early on, I was intrigued by their religious differences and wondered how they would interact once they time-traveled back to A.D. 57. Not only are they challenged by one another, they are confronted with a world of varying customs and traditions. In their quest to save the Apostle Paul from a modern scientist with a madcap scheme, they encounter various minor characters, all of whom are depicted with depth and grace. With numerous little details, Ingermanson builds a credible view of first century Jerusalem and I found myself wanting to visit, wanting to check some of the incidents described against the history of the New Testament. To round off an entertaining and thought-provoking novel, Ingermanson also throws in a few doses of romance. Some of it worked for me, some of it seemed sudden and/or stilted. But give him credit for mixing in a little spice to this already flavorful book. Better quality publishing might've helped this book out (I personally found the graphics and cover a bit substandard), but the author managed to override my qualms with solid storytelling. I'm looking forward to reading his newest, titled "Oxygen."
Rating:
Summary: Excellent first novel
Review: I've read a number of time-travel short stories and novels over the years; I consider this to be one of the absolute best. Dr. Ingermanson has a strong physics background, which lets him convincingly describe traveling to the past with plausible depth, but in a way that's still readable. This isn't a dry techno-SF story, though. Ari, Rivka, and Damien interact in complex, but believable ways. Damien has plausible motives for wanting to completely reshape society by trying to remove one of the most influential people in history. (He's a crackpot, but he _almost_ makes sense!) And not only are they realistic from the beginning, but they grow and develop convincingly as the story progresses. The author's portrayal of first-century Jerusalem is impressive. Again, the characters here are complex individuals who aren't static, but who also progress as do the others. Nobody is wasted--everyone has a role to play. While I know very little about the area in that era, I would say that it's presented convincingly. The religious aspects of the novel come across well, too. In spite of their essential nature to the story, they don't intrude. Rather, they are very well integrated with all the rest that's going on--which is a lot! They gave me plenty to think about, always a good sign in a book. The author is willing to take risks as well, shifting the plot in unexpected directions, and not coming up with contrived, pat resolutions. He doesn't take the easy way out, which results in a more satisfying story. Although I almost never read novels more than once, this will call for a re-read; there's too much substance to take in all at once. And this will prepare me for the prequel and sequel. In short, BUY THIS BOOK!....
Rating: 
Summary: I wanted to like it more . . .
Review: Really, I did. I found this book by following up on recommendations from other books I'd liked, and I wanted to like it too. But it really doesn't deliver. It gets the third star solely because of Ingermanson's believable, sympathetic, and downright fascinating--though frustratingly brief--portrait of Paul. At the same time, it has three major problems.
First, don't look for much science here. The discussion of the theological implication of the arrangement of quarks is great, but only about two sentences long. Other than that, you mostly get high-sounding jargon.
Second, the theology is just plain weird. Ingermanson takes fiendish delight in trying to prove that most everything you ever learned about the early church is biased and wrong, and that obvious agenda gets REALLY ANNOYING after a while. Plus, he succumbs to the temptation, unfortunately pretty common in this subgenre, to present Jewish people as a sort of para-church group who retain something of their Old Covenant status as the chosen people of God under the New Covenant, without reference to a relationship to Christ as Redeemer. This is a pretty ironic weakness considering that Paul himself tried hard to correct this misconception. Maybe Ingermanson corrects this impression in his following books?
Third, unfortunately, Ingermanson's writing is weak. Character development in this story, when it happens at all, is oddly sporadic and has little connection to the events of the plot. Common sense is in woefully short supply among all the characters, from our hero who jaunts back into the past with an unbelievably small supply of his vital allergy medication, to our villain who was incredibly slipshod in his prep work, to our heroine with her remarkable cluelessness about gender norms in the period she should know so well. Some plot elements test your patience more than they should, too. Excuse me--even if you really could build a wormhole in your local physics lab, could you really use a cell phone while standing in it? In my building, cell phones won't even work in the elevators, folks! Also, assuming you build said wormhole, do you really think the Israeli government's immediately going to believe you can use it for time travel? (The whole government was apparently pretty blase here.) And even if they do believe you, do you really think their first concern is going to be whether your cool new technology should be shut down for the Sabbath? I wish!
Other minor gripes: this book is short on physical description of any kind. Also, the two and a half romances which meander along through its pages proceed so strangely that you'll occasionally feel you MUST have skipped fifty pages in there somewhere. Most everything is left hideously (NOT tantilizingly) unresolved at the end. And the sad fact is that if you don't speak a fair to middling amount of basic Hebrew, you will miss some detail. Exasperating.
So do what I did. Check this book out from the library, but don't buy it. If you can ignore a little strangeness for a big payoff, read (or re-read) A Man Called Blessed, instead.
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