Book Review: The Lane Betrayal (Time Box Book 1) by John A. Heldt

The suspense in this time travel continues until the last pages.

The Lane Betrayal (Time Box Book 1)
by John A. Heldt

File Size: 517 KB
ASIN: B085B7MDLH
Publication Date: February 29, 2020
Print Length: 299 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel Romance
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

From the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage, American Journey, and Carson Chronicles series comes the first book in the Time Box saga.
Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865.
For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past.
Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark's betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight.
Filled with romance, suspense, and history, THE LANE BETRAYAL follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.

Review:
Mark is a physicist who developed a time machine they call a Time Box. Mark learns that his business partner, Robert, is planning to use the device to change history and benefit from financial matters. Mark makes plans to disclose Robert’s nefarious intent and to destroy the company. But the only way Mark can escape the consequences is to take his family into the past. Mark, his wife Mary, and their four children aged 12 to 25, agree to the adventure that will take them to 1865 and the world of Abraham Lincoln.

Mary, a businesswoman, has pulled together products that she can take into the past to sell. Jordan has military intelligence to help the family and they all have studied up on the times to be ready. They gathered the clothing, guns, and coins that should be suitable for the time and place.

Robert, having forgotten his own promise to never use the time machine for harm or change to the past, is furious at the betrayal by Mark. Robert manages to deflect the immediate press on the situation and to turn the attention towards Mark who disappeared. Robert tasks his team with recreating the Time Box and studying the timeline to find a clue to where Mark took his family. Robert is ready to send a skilled assassin to go back to retrieve the original two Time Boxes and to ‘deal with’ Mark and his family.

Mark tried to plan everything ahead to cover his tracks, but he didn’t catch all the details. This mistake leaves an opening for the relentless anger of Robert and gets Mark taken into custody. Although this results in interesting meetings with Secretary of War, Edward Stanton, and President Lincoln, the family is placed at risk because one of the boxes has been confiscated.

While Mark struggles in Washington, Jordan has to make a risky return to where they first arrived in 1865. Injured while trying to escape danger, Jordan ends up on the doorstep of a young woman whom he met briefly. Their relationship leaves behind another clue that creates more suspense.

There is some similarity to the author’s Carson Chronicles which also involves young family members traveling in time. This book had more foibles as the Lane family leaves a trail of clues and are prepared to interfere in historical events that would reveal the Lane’s location, as well as risk changing history.

I do enjoy Heldt’s time travel novels. There is interesting historical detail, an engaging story, and suspense that runs right to the end. I did suspect and was right, that this story would end at a place that will leave much open for a sequel. I recommend this to fans of family stories, history, and particularly to time travel.

Source: Book supplied by Author for an honest review. This qualifies for my 2020 Author review goal.