Mix Alice in Wonderland with Jurassic Park. Add a dash of every science fiction sub genre but especially time travel. Voila, you have God’s Junk Drawer!
Twelve-year-old Billy is found in Thailand after being missing for five years from Maine. He has wild tales of the missing years including encounters with dinosaurs, human like robots, and sundials. Thirty-three years later he is now Noah Barnes and in charge of a group of university students on a school sky gazing camping trip. He has other plans and tries to ditch the students. But his lab assistant, four students, and a travel guide who isn’t who he claims to be accidentally make the trip with him.
This new novel has everything I look for in a genre mashup. It has action, adventure, science that I vaguely remember from college, a bit of romance, a mystery, and a compelling quest plot. I loved it and had to fight myself to put in down late each evening. At 560 pages, it can definitely not be read in one sitting. But the pages fly by as you join the ragtag gang trying to find answers in a world gone mad.
The author has stated that this book is a reimagine of an old television show called Land of the Lost. I haven’t seen that show so I can’t comment on that though fans of the show will enjoy Easter eggs throughout the novel.
Even without seeing the tv show, I loved God’s Junk Drawer. It is the perfect escape from real life. 5 stars and a favorite!
Thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an advanced review copy.