Time Thief

May 15, 2013
A paper-thin plot and unconvincing romance kick off what will no doubt be a best-selling paranormal series. Offensively spunky and incredibly broke Kiya Mortensen eagerly accepts an offer to care for the five pugs belonging to Lenore Faa, the matriarch of a Traveller encampment in the Oregon woods. The Travellers are a reclusive people with the ability to steal time from others and use it to maintain their youth and power. And at least one of the Travellers is using that ability to kill. Enter Peter Moore Faa, an estranged member of the clan and an officer in the Watch, a kind of magical police detective. Peter is tracking the murderer, but he finds himself distracted by the beautiful Kiya, and before the two of them know it, ridiculous misunderstandings and silly quarrels turn to clunky sexual banter, clumsily written intercourse and undying devotion, all within the course of four days. MacAlister (A Tale of Two Vampires, 2012, etc.) tries to sidestep issues of race by explaining that the Travellers, although frequently mistaken for Roma, are quite a different people; therefore, it's OK to accuse them of being nonhuman magical thieves. However, given that the term "Traveller" refers to several distinct ethnic groups, some related to Roma and some not, she does not entirely succeed in that aim. The author might also want to consider modern psychology. Kiya's constant references to Freudian concepts of id, ego and superego (as taught to her by her psychologist foster mom) seem outdated and flaky. Not erotic, not convincingly fantastic, not well-researched and not worth your time.

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