Last we saw Madeline Maxwell, historian at the St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, she was sprawled on the carpet, bleeding from a should-have-been fatal sword thrust through her heart, courtesy of Agincourt. A Trail Through Time picks up directly after A Second Chance, with Max solidly in a parallel world, one where she had died and Leon lived, one with virtually the same people, with similar personalities as she knew.
Leon Farrell owns the carpet Max just bled all over and he isn’t sure what to think. Sure, he’s delighted to have Max – any Max – back, but he knows darn well that his Max is dead from carbon monoxide and cremated. Nonetheless Leon jumps to save this new Max when mysterious men in black arrive at his home in Rushford, and he whirls her off in his own personal time pod.
Thus begins a wild ride through time as Max and Leon desperately search for a place where they can relax, get to know each other and Max can heal her chest wound. Unfortunately the men in black are the Time Police, a group that Max’s original world never had, and they are after Leon. Max and Leon escape by a whisker in ancient Greece, in frozen London, in ancient Thebes, and finally realize that the Time Police find them so easily because Max has a tag in her arm. Max comes up with a brilliant plan to take care of this problem (which doesn’t work) and finally Leon brings her to St. Mary’s for medical care.
At St. Mary’s we learn the real problem is that the original Max, now dead, brought Helios back from Troy and someone ratted her out to the Time Police. Bringing someone from their time is a capital offense and the Police are determined to see the leadership of this St. Mary’s executed and replaced by a more amenable team lead by none other than our old friend Isabella Barclay.
Plot Holes
Just like all the other St. Mary’s novels A Trail Through Time moves so quickly that we run right by most plot holes. Just ignore these when you see them and you can enjoy the story!
First, Max finds that B**hFace Barclay is still around and had supposedly been the original Max’s good friend. We get hints from several of the more astute St. Mary’s people that Miss Barclay is maybe not so liked and trusted as she thinks, but the woman is still there while in Max’s original world Miss Barclay was kicked out when she marooned people back with the dinosaurs and tried to usurp the directorship. Max comments a couple times about the dinosaur rescue in later novels, so we know people were marooned in this world too. How is Miss Barclay not tainted by her role? We don’t know.
In Max’s original world Leon had rescued Helios, bringing him to the future St. Mary’s where he grew up, then later to our time where Helios runs an inn. In this alternate world Max did the rescue and only a few years have passed, yet Helios is grown up.
Characters
Max is growing up! (Finally.) She tells Leon that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be as terrible as seeing him dead. Leon feels the same about her. This grief and miraculous do-over help Max max mature. She is hurt and upset that the St. Mary’s people don’t accept her at first, although this is understandable given they all grieved for the original Max. Max knows this in her head but her heart suffers.
Max still doesn’t trust people easily and accuses Dr. Bairstow and Tim Peterson of wanting to maroon her in the 14th century, and accuses Mrs. Partridge (aka Kleio the Muse of History) of sacrificing Max to the Time Police in order to allow the others to go free. Neither suspicion makes much sense (especially the second one) but that’s Max.
A few of the other characters take on more life in A Trail Through Time. Professor Rapson and Dr. Dowson emerge from their stereotype caricatures to be real people, friends and colleagues to each other and the first to welcome Max as herself, not as a sort-of substitute.
Overall
A Trail Through Time is the story of Max rebuilding her life in this new world, creating friends and establishing herself as a person. In the sense of a new beginning it has echoes of Book 1, Just One Damned Thing After Another, but with more terror, more threats, much more to lose. In Book 1 Max could lose herself and her life. Now she could lose her life and those of people she loves, Major Guthrie, Dr. Bairstow, Tim Peterson and Leon, and see St. Mary’s destroyed. That makes the story more believable as it heightens the suspense and the conflicts.
I am glad to see the characters develop and adding the Time Police adds more opportunity for conflict and threat. Clive Ronan is a serious opponent but he is a fraction of the problem the Time Police could be. Overall this is an excellent addition to an already good series.
5 Stars
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