Customer Reviews

The Didymus Contingency

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I was entrenched in it every night until I reached the end. I have been reading it before bed for about a week and a half and have found that it has set my mined ablaze. I finished last night. Do to stresses in life it is rare that my mind is able be fully captured by a story enough to forget for 60 minutes what my day has been like. This book managed to achieve that.

To be truthful I didn't even buy the book. My wife picked it up after a friend recommended it. She loved it, tried to get me to read it and I resisted. I resisted because in general, books with religious overtones seem to more often than not to aggravate me with their agendas. Last week, I found myself without anything to read in the facilities (to much detail I know) because my wife threw out all the magazines. The book was on her dresser so out of desperation I grabbed the book and the rest is history. I adopted it for a week of reading.

Before I started to write this review I read the review below. I am not even sure the person who wrote that review read the whole book because some of the comments are way off in left field. The one comment that I really want to rebut is the one in relation to Jesus and how the writer portrayed him. I can't reiterate enough how much an over the top portrayal and overly analytical representation of Jesus in this book would have turned me off.

Clearly I am not someone who minds a good wordy review but I don't respect reviewers who give away large parts of the story, especially when they misrepresent the story (there is most definitely a clear and dramatic conclusion to Tom's quest.) Christian or not this book should leave you with, at the very least, a fun topic for discussion. My daughter is reading it now and I am looking forward to hearing what she thinks. As for me, I think this book is wonderful.

Science, Religion, Action & Romance - there's something for everyone here. The book moves fast, and though he's really a secondary character, it paints a wonderfully vivid and unique portrait of Jesus. Far from the pale, victimized postcard Jesus that so many find a turn-off, here he's a vital, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humor. Somebody who not only doesn't come over as preachy, but a guy you might enjoy knocking back a few brews with.

Yet he doesn't hijack the novel from Tom and David, our main characters, who had us rooting for them both. There were some great twists and turns, and the ending was both satisfying, and fit with the story and characters. (P.S. - I want one of those watches!)

To put it mildly, I am a picky reader. The Didymus Contingency is not even the type of book I typically read, as anything even close to science fiction usually sends me to bed early. But, I was really interested in reading this because of the fact that Jesus Christ is a character in the book, and I was ready to pick it all apart. However, once I started it, I was thrilled to find that not only is the science extremely accessible, but the character of Jesus is portrayed in such a fresh, bold way, I was shocked. I think Robinson is one gutsy guy. Not only does he include actual scenes from the Bible, but he portrays Jesus in scenes of his own artistic making. And he did it very, very well.

The characters are lovable, hateable, and believable. Dialogue is superb, especially the way Robinson effortlessly blends biblical quotes with his own characters, etc. A few very original plot twists kept me guessing (not easy to do). Also, Robinson writes elegantly, scenically, and lacking in cliche.

I loved this so much I forgot I was reading. Don't laugh, but I even cried once. Read it if you want to experience something totally original. Read it if you want to simply enjoy an excellent story. I was very impressed.

This was probably the most gripping novel I've read in a long time. The plot was complex. The action was tense. The science was cool. The characters were believable, driven and falable. This book kept me up many a night, first reading it and second, even after I finished it I was still thinking about it.

Coolest of all, I looked up some of what happens in this book in the Bible and it's all there! It was so surreal. It made it seem even more like this book, which was so fantasical (and fantastic), could have really happened. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and think just about everyone, probably ranging in age from 13 to...how old do people get these days? 114? Ages 13 to 114 will love this book. It's a new classic in my mind.

Like many who have discovered this book, I found it cited time and again here at amazon by those who had read and reviewed it. I was initially reluctant simply because of the so-called religious angle of the novel. I am not what you would call a Christian Fiction reader--in fact to my knowledge I have never read one before...and I certainly did NOT want to start, but the story seemed almost too creative to pass up, and I am happy to say that if you are like me, go ahead and put those thoughts behind you and GET THIS BOOK.

If you could go back in time and witness ANY event in history, where would you go? Talk about an interesting premise for a book! I had to admit I have wondered about this from time-to-time in my life, and on more than one occasion the idea of going back to actually witness the life of Jesus had crossed my mind. I never took it any further however because as we all know (or at least most of us), traveling through time isn't possible. But the tremendous What If scenario here explores this premise in great detail in what has to be one of the best uses of Time Travel I have personally read.

In a particular nasty and very unfortunate event, Tom Greenbaum loses his wife to those of African terrorists simply because of her belief in Jesus. Tom does NOT share her views, in fact he believes the whole idea of Jesus as the Son of God working miracles is utter nonsense causing more problems than it can possible solve. Decades after losing his wife, Tom, along with a close religious friend actually build a working Time Machine. In a drunken stupor shortly after celebrating its first successful test, Tom uses the machine to debunk what he believes is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated in all of history. Tom's deeply religious co-worker David makes an all-out attempt to stop Tom before he does something horrific and irrevocably alters History. His initial attempt fails (and provides a great opportunity to see Jeremy Robinson's storytelling talent) and then decides a visit 2,000 years in the past is warranted. Before David even really knows how to solve the situation with Tom, they are face-to-face with Jesus of Nazareth as he begins selecting his Twelve Disciples. What happens next is tremendous tour-de-force through time that is very difficult to describe without ruining the plot.

Personally for me, towards the end when Tom's true purpose is revealed--and which I cannot tell you without seriously compromising the great revelation for those who have yet to read it--I actually found myself sitting in amazement at how it all came together. Now for those who are worried that reading this novel will be some veiled attempt to convert you, nothing could be further from the truth. Although at first glance, the idea of a Time Traveling Action Adventure read featuring Jesus Christ and His Teachings may sound like a tough pill to swallow, I MUST tell you that Jeremy Robinson pulls it off admirably. At NO point did I feel that I was being preached to, and while knowing the story of Jesus as contained in the Four Gospels helped me to have an idea of what would happen next, HOW it unfolded truly was as unpredictable as it was entertaining.

Some have criticized the earlier publication due to typos and grammar errors...while I never won any awards in school for my writing skills, as I see it, unless the errors somehow corrupted the actual story, I cannot understand why it was such an issue. I read a later edition, so I didn't see this as a problem anyway. I say buy it, read it and judge for yourself based on the STORY. I can't promise that this story will do for you what it has done for me, but I say go for it anyway. If it means anything, I quickly started his follow-up, 'Raising The Past' literally within moments of finishing. I think that speaks for itself.

First of all, after reading all the other reviews.......I don't find it necessary for a writer to fill in all the blanks when tackling a subject like time travel. It depends on what the author wants to deal with...In this case the mechanics of time travel are not detailed which was fine with me as I wouldn't have understood it anyway. What I wonder is if this was Christian literature and I was fooled....I don't like to be manipulated. I found this story fascinating..yes the characters weren't fully developed. I found Jesus to be totally believable. Yes, the surroundings weren't described with any detail, but the essence was there. Yes, there are questions...but all I ask of any entertainment type is to be entertained and this fit the bill for me. It was exciting to think about what if this was possible...what would it be like to travel in this way..how would it affect future life? I was enthralled with the concept and recommend this book to all those who are willing to imagine.

I loved this book, it gave me chills. Robinson's writing is so great that at times I could feel as if I was there and forgot I was reading. Highly recommend The Didymus Contingency!

Trust me you too will feel as if you have been taken back in time, and you might not want to leave...

If you could go back in time and prevent the crucifixion of Christ, would you? More importantly, if you could go back in time and prevent the crucifixion, should you? This is the question Jeremy Robinson asks in his surprisingly thought-provoking and exciting novel The Didymus Contingency. I say surprisingly because most work marketed as Christian fiction, like the Left Behind series, comes across as overtly forceful and preachy. But this doesn't read like Christian fiction at all. Instead, it reads like a fast-paced, intense thriller in which the very essence of the time-space continuum is at risk.

When Dr. Tom Greenbaum is a researcher who unlocks the secrets of time travel, then decides to go back to the time of the crucifixion to witness what no modern mortal could, or should. His friend and colleague Dr. David Goodman follows him in order to prevent an event that could destroy the foundations of Christianity. They both find themselves trapped in a sinister plot that includes demons, and assassin from the future, and betrayal.

The only problem I had with the book was that the two characters of Greenbaum and Goodman never seemed to really flesh out as real people. The remained relatively flat throughout, and I had a hard time getting behind them. Fortunately, the plot was powerful enough to compensate for my disinterest in the two characters, but I would have like to learned a bit more about these two and their relationship. I think it would have made the story even that much more powerful. Descriptive text was also minimal, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Two often, writers get bogged down in ten pages of descriptive text to the point where you lose track of what was actually going on in the scene. But a little more detail, considering the epicness of the subject matter, would have been a welcomed addition to the book.

I wanted to like this book; I really did. First of all, I'm a sucker for time travel books. Second, I teach high school theology, so the idea of going back in time to meet Jesus thrills me.
This book, alas, did not. I found the characters flat and stereotypical (e.g. the anti-Christian scientist embittered by the murder of his missionary wife), and the writing is just pure action without much texture. The plot is somewhat interesting, and I did, grudgingly, finish the book to see what happened, but I didn't much enjoy myself along the way.
This is just very much like so many other works of Christian fiction: If Christ weren't a character in it, it wouldn't get published.

First let me start this review with a slight caution: The more you know about the bible, the more interesting you may find this book. I'm not quite saying that you need to be a Christian to read this book, but some of the stories told in this book are much easier to understand if you know or have heard stories from the New Testament. I am a Christian, but rarely attend church or services (some may shame me for that) and the little bit I learned in Sunday school as a child provided plenty bible knowledge to enjoy this tale

Now, with that said, I found this book to be and incredibly fun read....Robinson is a genius to make a fictional tale from stories in the bible...has this been done before? I have no idea! But this author is gutsy....he took a chance and I think it will pay off. However, some devout Christians like my mother in law may find this book to be blasphemous....but just keep in mind, it's fiction....just a guy writing an imaginary story that he thought about one day....and I am truly glad that he shared this fictional story with the world.

The basic premise of the story is two men, one believer in Christ and one very loud non-believer. They build a time machine and through a series of events, the very angry non-believer decides to go back in time to prove to himself that Christ never rose from the dead and that Christians throughout the world had lived a life of a lie....without ruining the story I will simply say that this was a enjoyable read from front to back...I love the way Robinson reinterpreted stories from the bible to work with his imagination. What genius!

The only criticism that I can say about this book is that I believe this was this author's first published fictional work and it lacked a bit of main character development and carried a slight bit of the newbie writer feel to it....BUT, I want to make one thing clear, this slight criticism has no affect on the story...overall it is still a very enjoyable read.

I would recommend this book if you are interested but if you are interested, I found the authors website a little to late...if you order through his site there is a possibility that you could get a signed copy of the book for the same price. Take him up on the signed copy!

Eric Maier