Book Critique: Tempest

Tempest is a novel about a nineteen year old boy named Jackson Meyer who realizes he has the power to time travel. It is not like in the movies where if someone changes one thing in the past the entire future will be different. During one night at his girlfriend’s, Holly, dorm room; two men enter the room and shoot Holly, making him time travel back to 2007 and he cannot get back. During this time period he reconnects with his girlfriend, finds out the secrets his “fathers” been hiding, the real reason why he can time travel, and why people are after him. This novel has surprises on every page, making it very difficult for the reader to put down.
The novel resembles a recent past but nothing too out of the ordinary. The setting is in New York, whether he was in 2009 or 2007 the setting was basically the same. Making this book break the norm is that fact that Jackson and many others like Jackson can time travel. The realism in this novel is clear and can almost be in present day. Some other events that happen in this book that make it almost unreal are the fact that CIA agents are the family and are always following around Jackson. The CIA is much a real organization, but it also is very unlikely that CIA agents follow around certain people on a day to day basis. In this book Jackson’s enemy make him realizes there good and bad time travelers. These evil people are called EOTs (Enemies of Time). Jackson is going back and forth battling these EOTs in different years. One of these EOTs shows him the future and what it can be if he switches sides. Jackson, rather than being evil he decides to become a CIA agent with his “father”.
The author, Julie Cross does a great job of depicting this story. Cross paints a clear image for the reader and it is easily readable for almost anyone. Throughout the book the title makes no sense until almost the end, where cross explains its significance to the main character. Her vision for writing this book is somewhat confusing. Other than to depict an adventure about a young man with an exceptional ability with twist and turns, her motive to me is unclear. The way she writes is pure and makes the reader want to continue on to the next book. Tempest was written in such way that it makes people believe they are Jackson Meyer. Tempest is a must read book. Julie Cross is an amazing author who will not disappoint. If her next book Vortex, second book in the series, is anywhere as good as Tempest than there will be no disappointment.