Rating: 
Summary: A Timely Triumph
Review: "A Shortcut In Time" marks the triumphant return of Charles Dickinson to the world of American fiction, after ten years away from publishing. It stands to reason that a certified genius author like Dickinson has not been sitting idle for the last ten years. If you are among the literary business world who has not seen fit to publish any of his works, you might want to reconsider before "Shortcut" is optioned by some large house for a movie, and all his writings become hot properties. This book would scarcely need to be rewritten for the screen.
Without giving too much of the plot and story line away, suffice to say that Dickinson succeeds in making captivating subjects out of his normal "everyman" characters. The reader can profoundly identify with the trials and tribulations of the richly drawn characters as they wrestle with the life-altering impacts of time travel. Dickinson will elicit knowing thoughts of recognition from the reader, while generously sprinkling in his trademark droll humor when observing the human condition in his story-telling.
This is a must read for all fans of good fiction writing, as are all Dickinson's previous works including "Crows", "Waltz In Marathon", and "The Widows' Adventure". Happy travels.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for a plane trip or when you have the flu
Review: 2.5 stars. This is a light novel meant to entertain while you pass the time. I read it comfortably in two sittings while nursing the flu and was nicely taken out of my aches and pains for the duration. Does it break any new ground on the concept of time travel? No. Are the characters memorable? Not really. Time travel is given a treatment more like Back to the Future than some spinoff of Hawking's musings in Universe in a Nutshell. But the book jacket says as much "It is in the best sense of the word, an entertainment."....Washington Post Book World. Yes, there are also some gaping holes here and there (aside from the worm holes), but if you rent Hollywood movies (which are thin on logic and continuity and fat on flash and fun) you'll hardly notice. Those who come to the book expecting riveting insights and razzle dazzle sci-fi will be disappointed. Those who come to the book for a guilty pleasure of getting away from working on a thesis, dealing with screaming kids, or simply taking an easy break from the harsh international realities that assault us daily may appreciate the little breather before getting back to business. Don't make a habit of this, but go ahead here if you are fascinated by time travel and love to read anything about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: A small town, with a series of paths running behind many of the houses. Given the right set of circumstances, a person can be running on the path and then be transported in time. This happens to Josh twice, the first time involving a dog and the second time where Josh himself is transported back 15 minutes. What really gets Josh going on the time travel notion is the appearance of a strange orphan girl named Constance, who claims to be from 1908. Based on her manners and Josh's own experience he believes her and tries to help her return to her time. This obsession starts to interfere with Josh's home-life, especially with his wife, who feels that Josh is ignoring all that is important to him based on "fantasy."Josh's life was never that great to begin with. His brother was brain damaged and his brother's friend was drowned in a swimming pool in their teens. Apparently, it was because they were locked in a trunk and thrown into the pool by the future Town Sheriff. Josh grew close to the drowned boy's sister and later married her. Because of the accident, she decides to be the doctor that her brother was "supposed" to be. Josh himself seems to be an unmotivated person who rarely has a job. He is constantly embarrassed by his brain damaged brother, who is homeless and keeps trying to get into their childhood house, which was long ago sold off by the bank. Josh's helping of Constance also sets in motion a chain of events that will put his daughter at risk and probably land Josh in jail for life. This forces Josh to travel back in time to try to set things right. This was a highly enjoyable book and I would have given it the full five stars except for several paradoxes, which seemed to occur in the book. Also, the book screams out for a sequel at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: A small town, with a series of paths running behind many of the houses. Given the right set of circumstances, a person can be running on the path and then be transported in time. This happens to Josh twice, the first time involving a dog and the second time where Josh himself is transported back 15 minutes. What really gets Josh going on the time travel notion is the appearance of a strange orphan girl named Constance, who claims to be from 1908. Based on her manners and Josh's own experience he believes her and tries to help her return to her time. This obsession starts to interfere with Josh's home-life, especially with his wife, who feels that Josh is ignoring all that is important to him based on "fantasy." Josh's life was never that great to begin with. His brother was brain damaged and his brother's friend was drowned in a swimming pool in their teens. Apparently, it was because they were locked in a trunk and thrown into the pool by the future Town Sheriff. Josh grew close to the drowned boy's sister and later married her. Because of the accident, she decides to be the doctor that her brother was "supposed" to be. Josh himself seems to be an unmotivated person who rarely has a job. He is constantly embarrassed by his brain damaged brother, who is homeless and keeps trying to get into their childhood house, which was long ago sold off by the bank. Josh's helping of Constance also sets in motion a chain of events that will put his daughter at risk and probably land Josh in jail for life. This forces Josh to travel back in time to try to set things right. This was a highly enjoyable book and I would have given it the full five stars except for several paradoxes, which seemed to occur in the book. Also, the book screams out for a sequel at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Discover this writer.
Review: Charles Dickinson is a wonderful writer who should have a much larger readership than he seems to. He employs his clear and winning prose to describe the lives of ordinary people living their daily lives, but there's always an interesting little kink in those lives. In "The Widows' Adventures," two elderly sisters leave their suburban Illinois homes for a trip to Los Angeles. One of the sisters is blind. She's the one who's driving. The sensitive protagonist of "Waltz in Marathon" is a loan shark. The artist hero of "A Shortcut in Time" lives in the town he was born and raised in, yet on a familiar neighborhood path he meets people slipping back and forth in time. For a man with many regrets, there is the temptation to try to tweek the past. Unfortunately, he is not the only person with this compulsion. I recommend this novel highly, and I envy anyone picking up a Charles Dickinson book for the first time. A banquet awaits you.
Rating:
Summary: wacky, way out time traveling adventure
Review: Euclid Heights, Illinois is a very special place because at certain moments when conditions are right, people can go back or forward in time. Josh Winkler is the first to discover this when he goes back fifteen minutes in time. He tells his wife Flo and his daughter Penny but they think he is either or not in his right mind. His wife, a pediatrician, insists he obtain an MRI to see if he has a brain tumor but it comes back negative so they just ignore the whole situation. Life gets more complicated when fifteen-year-old Constance Morceau shows up telling Josh she is from 1908. He doesn't believe a word she says and believes the girl is a con artist wanting to rip them off. Josh checks the records and believes Constance. She is accumulating knowledge before she tries to return to her own time. When Constance disappears, Josh thinks the time traveling episode is finished until his own daughter vanishes and he must go back in time to bring her home. A SHORTCUT IN TIME is a wacky, way out time traveling adventure that would make a great movie (similar to Back to the Future but wackier). Charles Dickinson uses the time travel paradox to show that time is fluid and the future can be changed. The protagonist is an easygoing struggling artist who takes the idea of traveling in time in strides. Yet unbelievable as that sounds, he's a plausible character and readers will hope that he can find a way to go back in time to retrieve his daughter before she dies in the 1918 flu epidemic. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: a difficult fit
Review: For some reason, in reading this, I had difficulty fitting myself into the story. The locale almost seemed desgned to be a bubble isolated from the rest of the world. I would have to agree also with another reviewer the sense of disjointment. There were a number of places in the book where the author seems to abruptly slip between thoughts and never clue the reader in. Characterization seems poor, or I at least had difficulty identifying with any. I had another difficulty and that was the much too quick acceptance of the phenomenon of time travel by other characters throughout the story, and the poorly researched character of 1908. The author has a nice time travel concept but does little with it that is enjoyable for the reader.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful journey!
Review: How would your life change if you went only fifteen minutes into the past? Thus begins the trials of Josh Winkler, whose lackadaisical world is turned upside down when he accidently slips through a rip in time...but only travels fifteen minutes into his past. The resulting fallout changes his world, and everyone around him. Dickenson has written a wonderful romp of a tale that tweaked my imagination and made me think about the concept we know as time. Though I thought that the protagonist, Josh, was a bit unlikable, the writing drew me forward, as did the story itself. Though he's compared to the likes of Jonathan Carroll, I'd say Dickenson is a better storyteller.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing Like Killing a Decent Conceit with a Terrible Ending
Review: I am really intrigued by this concept, and I must say that after the midpoint of the book, I was taking longer lunch breaks just to finish it. But. The first half really dragged for having such an interesting idea, they never REALLY explain how they are sometimes able to directly influence what time they end up in, and it just seemed like a lot of slogging. Worse still, the ending is both disappointingly grim AND decidedly abrupt. I kept thinking that perhaps some pages were missng form the book becuase it just ended. I wanted to like this book. I know the suburbs he talks about and lives in, and I enjoy a good time travel book. But the ending was inexcusable. I've never been more upset after finishing a novel.
Rating:
Summary: What the...!
Review: I just finished this book, and like other reviewers, am bewildered by the ending. I guess the author had a deadline, and just sent them what he had...RIGHT NOW? I dunno.
You have the protagonist, Josh, married with a daughter. He travels through time, just a 15 minute blip into the past, and then when his daughter Penny goes missing, he finds through microfilm in the library that she disappeared further into the past, 1918, and died of Spanish Influenza. He goes back to 1918 to find her and learns that Penny doesn't want to return to the present. When he returns to the present himself, he finds he changed history somehow, and that his life is totally different. So here is where the story might have gotten good - really interesting.
But this is where all plot development goes away. The author sets the scene, then doesn't take it anywhere except to an abrupt ending that -- (see how it feels?)
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