The Revisionists

Starred review from July 11, 2011
Mullen (The Last Town on Earth) explores the ethical implications of time travel in this excellent thriller set in the near future. After a megadisaster known as the Great Conflagration devastates the world as we know it, "the Government" creates the Department of Historical Integrity to prevent historical agitators (or hags), who are able to travel through time, from trying to change the past. The DHI assumes that such horrific events as the Holocaust, the 9/11 attack, and the Great Conflagration are necessary evils to bring about "the Perfect Present," an era of no world problems. One DHI agent, known simply as Zed, travels back in time to Washington, D.C., shortly before the Great Conflagration to ensure that nothing interferes with the murder of an investigative journalist, Karthik Chaudhry, about to meet an important source. Meanwhile, hags try to prevent Chaudry's death. The complex concatenation of events that follows make this book a one-sitting read despite its length.

More science fiction than mystery, Mullen's latest has a lot of depth. Narrator Robert Fass helps listeners along with his brisk narration and quick delivery. In a post-9/11 society, Dex, a time traveler from the perfect future, finds himself in conflict with the Hags, a group committed to head off wrongs before they happen. For example, the Hags tried to prevent the Holocaust. But Dex's masters believe that earth's perfect future wouldn't have evolved without both positive and negative events having taken place. So Dex attempts to stop the Hags from fixing earth's injustices--and soon begins wondering whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. Fass is especially plausible in the female roles and credible with the varied accents. When the action ramps up, so does Fass. It's almost a perfect listen. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine