Nick of Time (Nick McIver Time Adventures) by Ted Bell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Nick of Time (Nick McIver Time Adventures)
Book Review: Sharpen Your Cutlass, Point your Compass towards a Maritime Adventure for Boys
Summary: 5 Stars
Veteran spy thriller author Ted Bell, turns his storytelling to a new high adventure book for young sailors, a tale of the high seas for boys 8-12 years old. Drawing from his other adult novels, Bell takes his popular spy character of Alex Hawke and brings the family name into Nick of Time, a story of Hawke's ancestors.
Nick of Time begins in 1939, with 12 year old Nick McIver sailing through the Channel Islands in his boat the Stormy Petrel, with his dog Jip and his 5 year old adorable kid sister Kate. Encountering a voracious storm, they struggle to keep afloat, fighting against towering waves that will drive them into a hidden cove where they land to wait out the storm. When setting their feet upon the shore, they stumble over what appears to be a vintage sea chest from the past. The two children drag it into a nearby cave for safe keeping, and wonder what could be inside. But something seems strange about the chest, although it appears to be of a design a hundred years old or more, Nick notices that it's in nearly new condition, no marks, or scuffs or signs of use at all. Kate and Nick wonder if they have found a treasure chest but with no tools handy to prize it open, they must leave it behind until they can return for it. When the storm passes they jump back on the Stormy Petrel and race off to visit their friend Gunner, a local pub owner who might help them recover their prize. But when they arrive at the Inn, an even bigger surprise awaits them, two very scary pirates are drinking ale by the fire who have come looking for a lost item, the very sea chest lying hidden in the cove below. Nick and Kate are then whisked away home before their parents begin to worry about them, but when they arrive back to the lighthouse that they live in, more shocking news stuns them as Nick and Kate learn that their father is a British spy working for Winston Churchill. His mother calls it "bird watching', but Nick's father Angus McIver explains to his son that he's actually watching for Nazi U-boat activity, making daily excursions out on the dangerous waters jotting down all the German submarines that are coming and going as they are soon to be entering World War II.
Nick, Kate, and Gunner plot to transfer the treasure chest to the legendary Hawke's Castle, a haunting place believed to be owned by the famous Lord Hawke, a mysterious and dangerous recluse who lost his children in a kidnapping . Nick believes that the only safe haven for the sea chest is at Hawke's Castle where no one dares to tread, and feels if they could just talk to Lord Hawke he could help them uncover the mystery. And uncover the mystery Hawke does as he and his hilarious butler Hobbes who is also a secret spy and weapons master, inform Gunner and the kids that within that chest, lies a wonderous secret, and the answer to his prayers to finding his lost children. Opening the treasure chest carefully, what unearths is a small glowing golden ball, Leonardo Da Vinci's Tempus Machina!
And so begins two rollicking, high seas adventures that run parallel along two points of a timeline. Hawke and Nick will take the time machine back into the past of 1805, and encounter the exciting and dangerous world of the Napoleonic wars where they will be transported onto Nick's great grandfathers' ship the Merlin. There they will fight side by side for King and country, climb the riggings with cannons exploding, seeking out the infamous and dreaded, most evil pirate of them all, Billy Blood. Billy Blood also wants the time machine and will hold Hawke's children ransom until he gets it back! The flip side story remains in 1939, and offers a hilarious and devious scenario with little Kate, Gunner's cat Horatio, and Hawke's butler Hobbes, who together land in the hands of the Germans and are held captive on a U-boat. Their humorous antics, award winning acting, and calculating plan to outwit the Germans that lead up to an incredible escape will have readers both clapping and laughing simultaneously. As each chapter alternates back and forth with Nick and Hawke sharpening their swords and performing heroic deeds aboard piratical Spanish galleons and on one of Nelson's British Man of War ships in 1805 , and continually skips back to Kate and Hobbes outwitting the Germans on the submarine, there is a lot of hooting and hollering as the reader cheers both sides on, finding themselves breathless with all the high-tension action going on in both worlds of 1805 and 1939.
This story is about heroes, both young and old, and will be 100% enjoyed by boys and men of all ages who enjoy a maritime sea tale that will rival that of Robert Louis Stevenson, Raphael Sabatini and Patrick O'Brien. Ted Bell can certainly fly his Jolly Roger high for a guaranteed success with this one!
Book Review: The Adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
In 1938 when a young boy named Nick finds a mysterious treasure with his ancestor's name on it, his life turns around. Son of a lighthouse keeper, Nick roams the shore off Greybeard Island, his home, in his small boat Stormy Petrel.
But then his dad is accused of spying on the Germans without permission. His father and mother must go to London. Meanwhile, Gunner (a strong retired sailor) Nick and Nick's sister, Katie, take the treasure to the famous detective, Lord Hawke.
With Lord Hawke's help Nick finds out that the treasure contains a Leonardo Da Vinci time travel machine. What Nick does with the machine you have to read to find out.
I loved this book because of all the time travel, battles, and spying. I thought it was wonderful. I would recommend this dazzling book to fans of battle and adventure.
Book Review: The Compulsive Reader's Reviews
Summary: 4 Stars
Nick McIver and his sister Kate live a happy life on an island off the coast of England, spending their days exploring and sailing as the children of the lighthouse keeper. But it's turbulent times in 1939, and Nick's father has been engaged by Winston Churchill himself to watch the waters of the English Channel for prowling Nazi U-boats, and Nick and Katie are eager to help. But one day the discovery of an old sea chest containing a time machine, the sighting of a high-tech U-boat, and the arrival of some unsavory characters launch Nick and Kate into the adventure of their lives and they'll struggle to protect their beloved home from enemies all around them.
From the very beginning of Nick of Time, author Ted Bell enraptures the reader with fast paced and riveting action. The story is constructed with younger readers in mind, but will appeal to older teens and adults as well who don't mind reading about younger protagonists--although the adventure never lets up long enough for them to mind! Some younger, less experienced readers may find it hard to wade through all of the nautical jargon and the two different time periods, but Bell's themes of honesty, loyalty, and courage, wrapped up in fierce determination to do what's right, will hit home with any reader. Historical, exciting, humorous, and suspenseful, Nick of Time has the makings of a classic.
Book Review: Write More Mr. Bell!
Summary: 5 Stars
My 11yr old son loved this book. I'm also looking for good adventure books that are not scary and full devilish characters.Book Review: a pretty good book so far
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm only 5 or more chapters into it but it is a good book so far. wish he had gone back in time already but i guess all good things come in time and patience.