The Mine by John A Heldt

I have received free e-copies of two books by John Heldt to review. The first one up is The Mine, which is book one in the five-volume Northwest Passage time-travel series. To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

In May 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can’t use, money he can’t spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of swing dancing and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. THE MINE follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

I wasn’t entirely convinced by this book in the first few chapters set in modern-day, but once Joel time-travelled back to 1941, I started enjoying it more and was hooked by the point Joel relocated to Seattle and helped Tom, who was being attacked. One favour deserves another, so destitute Joel (since modern credit cards are no use at all) gets to stay in the trailer outside Tom’s house. From there he progresses to a job as a salesman working for Tom’s Dad and gets to meet Tom’s circle of close friends. This includes Tom’s girlfriend Ginny, who Joel soon realises is his own Grandma.

From this point on, the reader is constantly wondering whether the course of history is going to be permanently changed, as Tom is obviously not Joel’s Grandpa Joe. And will Joel ever get back to his own time?

Meanwhile Joel falls in love with one of Ginny’s house-mates Grace. And in wartime 1941 he is very conscious of pending historical events. When a chance arises to potentially return to the present day, what should Joel do? Leave Grace or risk changing the timeline for ever? You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.

The Mine is available on Amazon, currently priced at £3 in Kindle format. Reading this story has definitely whet my appetite for the rest of the series. Highly recommended. I also enjoyed Joel’s humorous personal thoughts interspersed throughout the book. I’m certainly looking forward to reading Indiana Belle, the other John Heldt novel that I received. Watch out for my review of that sometime next month.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.