Circles of Displacement by Darrell Bain

Review by Stefan Vucak Author of In the Shadow of Death: Book One of the Shadow Trilogy GOOD A passing alien starship sends a shower of time displacement spheres sleeting through Earth, sending everything they touch into a far past. Plucked from their comfortable, humdrum lives, or in some cases less than desirable predicaments, men and women face survival not only against prowling beasts, but something far more ruthless and dangerous -- their own kind. Wanda, an army captain, fleeing sexual harassment from her superior, suddenly finds that the highway has disappeared in front of her and she is surrounded by an ancient forest. McMasters, a mediocre physics professor, searching for relief from his uneventful academic existence, finds more than he bargained for, which finally challenges his considerable capacities. Burley, a hardened convict with a burning hate for all men, especially black men, together with a prison full of convicts, is hurled into a past where he is free to wreck his revenge on his fellow humans. In his story, Darrell Bain paints an all too-real and frightening possibility. Beneath our thin veneer of civilization, the savage within all of us lurks, awaiting an opportunity to be unleashed. Yet the blood of thousands of years of struggle for reason and law overcomes blind lust, wanton destruction and the urge to kill. Bain shows the reader that clearly in the face of adversity modern norms mean nothing, and otherwise unprepossessing personalities emerge to take charge and shape events. This is a good book to curl up with on a rainy weekend and escape into. The reader will become involved with the individual stories of the characters.