The Bottom Line: A dazzling and poignant exploration of time, memory and the fragile courage of youth.
Miles in Time opens as Miles Hardy, a 14-year-old aspiring detective living in the sleepy town of Frontier, Iowa, is jolted awake by a bang that seems to fracture reality itself. Dreaming of melting clocks — a clever nod to Salvador Dalí and the book’s time-centric themes — he awakes to find the acrid scent of gunpowder hanging in the air. He moves cautiously through his home, only to discover his brother Simon’s bedroom door ominously ajar. What he finds next changes everything and shatters the sleepy illusion of safety in Frontier.
It seems that Miles’ brother, Simon, has created a time machine. In a video recorded before his death, Simon calls Miles to action: if anything happens to him, Miles must use the time machine to stop it from falling into the wrong hands.
Until now, Miles’ passion for sleuthing has mostly earned him mockery from classmates (other than hilarious pies-for-payment rescues of runaway pets). Now, as he’s entering high school, he’s busy dodging social embarrassments like braces and an awkward crush on a mysterious new girl who seems just as out of place as he feels. Meanwhile, Frontier, with its endless cornfields and predictable days, has appeared hopelessly mundane.
The contrast between Miles’ boyish fantasies of heroism and the brutal reality he’s about to face is stark and poignant, setting readers up for a story that explores grief, courage, and the slippery nature of time itself. Can Miles somehow use the time machine to protect the world and save his brother?
Author Lee Matthew Goldberg, whose prior novels include Runaway Train and staff favorite The Great Gimmelmans, has added another series-worthy character to his catalog. In Miles in Time, we have not one, but two versions of his smart young protagonist. Adding to the fun, Goldberg has created a few clever new rules of time travel that fuel suspense: Miles’ past self can’t know about the time machine, can’t know what Miles is doing, nor can the two of them be seen together. Another ingenious twist comes as Miles develops a crush on a girl named Maisie. It would be natural to want to impress Maisie’s father. But what if the old man isn’t all that he seems?
With humor, heart, and a keen sense of mystery, Miles in Time strikes a rare balance between a coming-of-age tale and a thrilling sci-fi adventure. Goldberg masterfully captures the confusing blur of adolescence — all while keeping readers glued to the page with mounting twists and emotional stakes. Fans of time-travel adventures and heartfelt mysteries alike will find themselves racing to the end — and eagerly awaiting Miles’ next journey through the folds of time.
