SEE ALSO A TO Z CONTENTS LISTINGS  ATHEISM / HUMANISM  CULTS AND BRAINWASHING  ENGLISH CIVIL WAR HISTORY  AND RE-ENACTMENT PAGES   EROTICA (ADULTS ONLY)   .FILM REVIEW PAGES   FUNNY PAGES GENERAL ARTICLES   GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS       HOME PAGE  LINKS TO OTHER PEOPLES PAGES    LISTS (MY TOP TENS OF EVERYTHING)   MANCHESTER, ENGLAND   MY FICTION MY POETRY  MY SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR PAGES  MY SCRIPTS   NEWS  PHOTOGRAPHS OF ME   UPDATES   WEBSITE REVIEWS  FACEBOOK - http://profile.to/arthurchappell/ My Space http://www.myspace.com/arthurchappell  E-MAIL  arthur@chappell7300.freeserve.co.uk   MY BOOK REVIEWS These reviews and abstracts cover just about every book I have read recently. Scroll through the whole alphabetical list of abstracts and reviews below, or look through the following genre and sub-category list SUB-CATEGORIES - CHILDREN’S BOOKS  CLASSIC LITERATURE  COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS  CULTS ENGLISH CIVIL WAR  EROTICA (ADULTS ONLY)  FANTASY HISTORY HORROR HUMOUR MANCHESTER, ENGLAND NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES NON-FICTION PHILOSOPHY  POETRY  RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORIES A TO Z OF BOOK REVIEWS BY AUTHOR A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  (Superhero comics are listed alphabetically by the name of well known heroes, i.e., Batman Superman, etc).

BOOK REVIEW - TERRY PRATCHETT – JOHNNY AND THE BOMB  

The third Johnny Maxwell book, following Only You Can Save Mankind and Johnny And The Dead, is a time travel paradox story that owes some lip service to the popular Back to The Future films.  Here, instead of a DeLorian sports car, the time shifts are achieved through shopping bags full of time, attached to a supermarket shopping trolley, steered by the mysterious bag lady, Mrs. Tachyon (Even her name being a give away). 

When a German bomb in London in the Blitz blows up Mrs. Tachyon, she is thrown forward into the present day. Sent to hospital by the teenage Johnny and his oddball mates (including a girl who keeps changing her name, and a joy-rider), her shopping trolley is taken care of by the gang, who quickly end up back in 1940 when they mess with it. Perverting time, when one of the lads decides to stay in the past and use his knowledge of the present to make a fortune developing fast food franchises ahead of their time, Johnny and co realize that they have to go back and put things right again.

 

They are hampered and then helped by a mysterious man-in-black, who turns out to be an elderly millionaire – the now unhappy and older boy they left in 1940. Johnny now leads the gang back to try to put things right, and also to warn the town of the approaching raid by the Luftwaffe, as he realizes that the town was left unwarned in the past by a faulty air raid warning system.  The book plays on the premise that there is no point in time travel if you don’t set out to change and improve things. 

 

The story has wonderful charm, and very memorable characters, and a great deal of humour. One gag involves the gang trying to find suitable clothes to travel back to 1940 in so as to blend in. One of Johnny’s friends chooses a German Nazi uniform.

 

The real joy however is the enigmatic and delightful Mrs. Tachyon herself, who deserves a series of novels in her own right.

 SEE ALSO A TO Z CONTENTS LISTINGS  ATHEISM / HUMANISM  CULTS AND BRAINWASHING  ENGLISH CIVIL WAR HISTORY  AND RE-ENACTMENT PAGES   EROTICA (ADULTS ONLY)   .FILM REVIEW PAGES   FUNNY PAGES GENERAL ARTICLES   GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHS       HOME PAGE  LINKS TO OTHER PEOPLES PAGES    LISTS (MY TOP TENS OF EVERYTHING)   MANCHESTER, ENGLAND   MY FICTION MY POETRY  MY SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY AND HORROR PAGES  MY SCRIPTS   NEWS  PHOTOGRAPHS OF ME   UPDATES   WEBSITE REVIEWS  FACEBOOK - http://profile.to/arthurchappell/ My Space http://www.myspace.com/arthurchappell  E-MAIL  arthur@chappell7300.freeserve.co.uk   MY BOOK REVIEWS These reviews and abstracts cover just about every book I have read recently. Scroll through the whole alphabetical list of abstracts and reviews below, or look through the following genre and sub-category list SUB-CATEGORIES - CHILDREN’S BOOKS  CLASSIC LITERATURE  COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS  CULTS ENGLISH CIVIL WAR  EROTICA (ADULTS ONLY)  FANTASY HISTORY HORROR HUMOUR MANCHESTER, ENGLAND NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES NON-FICTION PHILOSOPHY  POETRY  RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORIES A TO Z OF BOOK REVIEWS BY AUTHOR A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  (Superhero comics are listed alphabetically by the name of well known heroes, i.e., Batman Superman, etc).