Fans of time travel and suspense might like Susan Plunkett’s latest novel. It’s overstuffed with both, though, so that the relationship between the two main characters suffers. With all that action going on, the love relationship doesn’t have enough time or space devoted to it.

Caladonia Hornsby is hiding from her father’s murderers when she is sucked through a timepool in the ocean from 1890 and thrown into the present day. Requiem Maguire, an undercover DEA agent, rescues Cally from the ocean, and even though he think she’s on drugs or insane, takes her to his house to stay.

Cally tries to convince Req that she is indeed from 1890. He eventually decided that she truly believes it and helps her to do some research into the past. While this is going on, Req disappears from the scene quite often, even depositing Cally with his sister for her protection. Because the operation Req is working on is supposed to bring down the drug lord who murdered his partner, the pacing in this section of the book is fast and furious. Even though the pacing is brisk, this book is not a page-turner. There’s so much going on ancillary to the love relationship that a reader could easy get lost in all the action. I know I did.

Part of the problem with the first half of the book is that while Cally is in the present, we don’t hear many of her thoughts as she tries to adjust to the world. Modern things have to be very unreal to someone from the past, but all we see is her watching television, “the big eye,” and microwaving a potpie. She is rightly most concerned about getting back, but seeing more of her difficulty adjusting would have created a sense of intimacy between she and the reader.

Most of the first part of the book is seen through Req’s eyes, probably because a lot of the plot centered on his undercover activities. However, between that and Cally searching for past records, little time was given to their relationship – at least not enough for me to believe that Cally had fallen in love with Req by page 112.

When the book switches back to 1890, more time is devoted to Req making some physical adjustments. This is where the book began to interest me more, because since the story begins with Cally looking for her father’s murder, there’s a sense of continuity when the thread is picked back up. Since Cally fit into her world so much better, and Req was such a strong character that he fit in anywhere, this section redeemed the book a whole grade level.

Cally was also a much more interesting character in her time. She was stronger there, while she was, by necessity I suppose, more passive and dependent in 1999. Req was the quintessential bad boy with the heart of gold. The long hair, tattoo and earring covered the loyal, honest and responsible DEA agent underneath. Years under-cover stripped his outer personality of any softness. He was very appealing as Cally’s protector, particularly once they returned to 1890 and he had a rival for Cally’s attention.

This book suffered from kitchen-sink plotting. With the time travel aspect, the additional sub-plots detracted from time which could have been devoted to Cally and Req. The fast and furious pace of the first half wore me down so that by the time I got to the second half, my interest was milder than it would have been. However, the second half did prove to be better than the first, and if you adore time travel romance, you’ll probably find something to like in Timepool.