Down Time (Emma Merrigan, No. 4) [Paperback]

Lynn Abbey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 2005

Emma Merrigan and her mother take a Caribbean cruise to reconcile their differences. But to help a cursed passenger, Emma must travel into the "wasteland."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In the fourth novel in Abbey's Orion's Children series, librarian Emma Merrigan and Eleanor, her mother, have the power to travel through time and prevent evil from plaguing generations to come. It isn't an easy gift to have, and the daughter and mother have clashed for a long time. The fact that Eleanor's time in the otherlands has left her younger in appearance than Emma doesn't help. Finally, they decide to take a vacation together, to see whether the rift can be healed. But Emma sees a woman in pain on the ship and decides that, her mother's admonitions notwithstanding, she cannot ignore that pain. She must visit the otherlands herself, knowing that she may not return. Abbey's characters and settings are original and well imagined, and she certainly keeps you turning pages. Her depiction of the relationship between parent and adult child is especially masterful. Those who enjoyed Out of Time (2000), Behind Time (2001), and Taking Time (2004) won't be disappointed by their new series mate. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ace (March 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441012701
• ISBN-13: 978-0441012701
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THIS is a VACATION?, June 18, 2005

By 

Sires "I enjoy mysteries, historical and proc... (Chesapeake, OH, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Time (Emma Merrigan, No. 4) (Paperback)

I have to agree that I too love these books. I can only conclude that Lynn Abbey wanted to write a cruise off on her income tax as research for a book but didn't have a very good time.

Emma, whose life is not going well mainly because her job as a librarian is under seige with shakeups in management, agrees to go on a cruise with her mother. Then she is talked into driving all the way to Florida. After they are on the ship she drinks both red wine and champagne-- bad idea for a migraineur! At their first port of call, she and her mother get lost. Emma's headache gets worse-- Arrgh, a migraine in the tropics! And I recognized those red pills that the author gave her. They are incredibly ineffective. No wonder it was taking her days to shake it. Come into the 21st Century Em!

Things continue to go downhill. Souvenirs are tacky, there's an employee with a curse on board, Emma witnesses a suicide, there's food 24 hours a day every day. And that headache keeps coming back. Then just when it seems they are going to get to spend a few fun days at the world of the mouse, fate strikes again. Oh yes, fate also has them driving through Atlanta on the interstate.

Abbey seems to be losing her focus on the story arc but for Emma's fans (would can sympathize with the fact that given tremendous power she removes the gray from her hair) this is an interesting few days in her life.

5.0 out of 5 stars I love these books and I love Lynn Abbey, May 4, 2005

By 

S Peterson "Thais Peterson" (Haslet, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Down Time (Emma Merrigan, No. 4) (Paperback)

I just can't get over how realistic Emma is. Her mother is an idiot, her lover is a ghost. She gets talked into doing all kinds of things she knows she shouldn't and really doesn't want to do. But she brings us along.

I'm always waiting for the next one. While you're waiting try some of Abbey's other books. You'll love them.

5.0 out of 5 stars spectacular urban fantasy, March 30, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Down Time (Emma Merrigan, No. 4) (Paperback)

Fifty years ago, Emma Merrigan's mother Eleanor abandoned her newborn baby and her husband and it is only recently that they reconciled. Both Emma and Eleanor are hunters, going into the wasteland to destroy curses and rogues (giant curses). Eleanor was imprisoned by powerful curses and upon returning to the mundane world, she could pass as Emma's daughter. The immortal hunters never age as they possess the power to appear younger even though Emma chooses to look her real age of fifty.

The two women take a Caribbean cruise hoping to bridge the breach that exists between them but Emma has a headache most of the time. She sees a cursed woman on the wait staff, a person who has seen the atrocities committed in Serbia. Emma has the ability to plunge through time and stop a curse before it begins. When she gets off the boat she does exactly that and finds a young boy without an adult to take care of him since Emma took away his primary caretakers in order to end the curse. He is either a hunter or a rouge but either way he sets up a loop that prevents Emma from returning to her own time and she must hope that someone from the mundane world come into the wasteland looking for her to guide her home.

DOWN TIME is an interesting urban fantasy featuring a heroine who is smart enough to know she doesn't have all the answers and is savvy enough to listen to people who have more of them. The wastelands are an interesting place, a barren dimension with a magnetic sky where curses and rogues abound. Emma is obsessed with destroying as many as she can to make the world a better place. Lynn Abbey is a spectacular urban fantasist.

Harriet Klausner