Cast the First Stone
The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone series, Book 1
David James Warren, Susan May Warren, James L. Rubart, and David C. Warren
TriStone Media
Fiction, Crime/Sci-Fi/Thriller
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Rembrandt Stone was a best-selling novelist and a top detective with the Minneapolis Police Department... once. After a case hit too close to home, he walked away, though his wife Eve is still working as a forensic examiner. He told everyone, even himself, that he was going to renovate his fixer-upper home, spend time with his daughter Ashley, and write his next bestseller. Instead, two years later, he feels stuck, plagued by nightmares of the cold cases he never cleared before giving up the badge.
When his old boss passes away, the man inexplicably leaves him a cardboard box full of old cases and the strange watch he always used to wear, which doesn't even seem to work. But when Stone straps the watch on, suddenly it leaps to life - and he finds himself in 1997, at the scene of a coffee shop bombing. He remembers two more bombings in forty-eight hours before the perpetrator mysteriously vanished, never to be caught. This time, he's determined to do things right, and not just the investigation: there are so many things in his life that he could use a do-over on, from his family matters to his friendships and career decisions and especially his fumbling courtship of Eve. But changing the past always has consequences, and his determination to set right one wrong may cost him more than he realizes.
REVIEW: This has many familiar crime thriller building blocks with the light sci-fi twist of time travel. Rembrandt Stone may have turned his back on the job (and his ex-partner, who still feels betrayed by his abrupt departure), but just because the detective walks away from the case doesn't mean the case leaves the detective. He tries to build a new life, and knows objectively that he has a lot to be grateful for - a wife who loves him, a daughter he adores, even a restored Porsche in the garage - but can't let go of the things that have gone wrong and the crimes he never solved, in his professional life and his personal one. This brooding has led to writer's block and overall life block, and even his patient literary agent is about to give up on him. The box of cold cases only dredges up more nightmares and feelings of regret. The story wallows in this a little long before he finally straps on the old leather "watch" and gets a trip back to the bombing, a case that holds significance as more than just his first major cold case with the department; it was also the case where he first met Eve. At first, he's convinced it's some sort of elaborate dream (another conceit that lasts far too long), and is determined to make things go right for the sake of his subconscious and hopefully putting another of his myriad nightmares to bed. Eventually, he clues into the fact that the time travel is all too real. By then, even if he thought much about the consequences of solving a case that went unsolved in his memory, he's in too deep and has changed too much (though his memories are not as reliable or clear as he might hope, meaning it's not just a matter of him recalling word-for-word the cold case file in a future cardboard box). Alternate chapters show Eve's experiences, as she is intrigued by the prodigal detective whose reputation well precedes him; her police captain father minces no words in expressing his disapproval of a man who dared publish a book about his rookie year, convinced Stone "spilled secrets" (though, of course, he hasn't apparently bothered reading Stone's book himself, because why would police want to examine evidence before passing judgement?), and also convinced that his daughter is still his property despite it being 1997. Between her dad policing (literally) her dating life and a co-worker with an obvious crush who does everything but mark his territory when Stone turns up (and the fact that there are no other women involved in the story, or even mentioned on the force, aside from the obligatory plot device of a cutesy daughter), there's a distinct whiff of overactive testosterone about the story, reducing Eve - despite her ostensible skills and "independence" in her career - to trophy status for the men to fight and posture over. Of course, there's also the bombing plot to investigate, which is indeed investigated, but it almost drowns over other tragedies that pile on... tragedies that start to become repetitive, and are so clearly hooks for future things Stone will have to deal with/solve that it almost becomes humorous. That said, things do generally move fast, and nobody's entirely stupid (save Stone taking far too long to clue into his own time travel and, later, to the consequences). It has the overall feel of a pilot episode for a TV series, complete with the mildly forced introduction of the concepts and the characters and the greater story arc. As I find myself saying far too often, I've read worse, but I don't really feel compelled to read more in this series, and it ultimately just wasn't my cup of cocoa.
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