When Albert Einstein told Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 that the atomic bomb was possible, he did not tell the president about another discovery he had made, something so extreme and horrific it remained a secret . . . until now. This extraordinary new novel from one of the most brilliant talents in contemporary fiction is a standout literary thriller in which one man stumbles upon the discovery Einstein himself tried to keep hidden. When twelve-year-old Daphne Marrity takes a videotape labeled Pee-wee's Big Adventure from her grandmother's house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank Marrity, has any idea that the theft has drawn the attention of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European cabal of occultists—or that within hours they'll be visited by her long-lost grandfather, who is also desperate to get that tape. And when Daphne's teddy bear is stolen, a blind assassin nearly kills Frank, and a phantom begins to speak to her from a switched-off television set, Daphne and her father find themselves caught in the middle of a murderous power struggle that originated long ago in Israel and Germany but now crashes through Los Angeles and out to the Mojave Desert. To survive, they must quickly learn the rules of a dangerous magical chess game and use all their cleverness and courage—as well as their love and loyalty to each other—to escape a fate more profound than death. A pulse-pounding epic adventure that blurs the lines between espionage and the supernatural; good and evil; past, present and future, Three Days to Never is an exhilarating masterwork of speculative suspense from the always remarkable imagination of the incomparable Tim Powers. Tim Powers's fiction has consistently defied description for three decades. Three Days to Never is no exception, with its "off-the-wall-yet-vaguely-plausible scenario" ( San Francisco Chronicle ). Powers, whose previous novels include Declare (2000), The Anubis Gates (1983), and a trilogy exploring the Fisher King myth, combines fantasy, thriller, and historical fiction in a novel that will win new fans for the author, even if Powers disciples will recognize some of the material and tricks from earlier books. Still, most critics agree with the sentiment of The Denver Post , which deems Powers's latest effort "the summer sleeper hit of 2006." Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. Imagine a world where time travel is possible. Now imagine a world where the mummified head of an Einstein clone is helping a secret sect, led by a quasi-hermaphroditic ghost who speaks in iambic pentameter, track down and locate the time machine, an integral component of which is Charlie Chaplin's footprints in a cement slab, and you'll begin to get a grasp on just how bizarrely populated Powers' world is. Almost despite its wonderful weirdness, this thriller maneuvers at a frantic clip as Frank Marrity, Einstein's great-grandson, must pit his wits against not only the malicious secret society bent on attaining immortality but also a specialized paranormal branch of Israel's Mossad, who'd like to use the time machine to avert the Six Days' War of 1967, a stunning psychic assassin who can only see out of other people's eyes, and none other than his own bitter, alcoholic future Frank Marrity self to save his daughter, Daphne, from not merely death but from never having been. Powers' metaphysics come off a tad muddled, almost as if he is making them up as he goes along, but their very outlandishness makes the story all the more compelling, no matter how ludicrous. Ian Chipman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “Quirky, humorous and packed with suspense, THREE DAYS TO NEVER is a head-spinning thriller.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) “A wild and wooly romp-fun.” (Library Journal) “Machiavellian . . . [A]n astonishingly sophisticated and engrossing narrative.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)) “Top-notch ...[T]he ingenious plot...manages to be intricate without becoming convoluted, to its highly satisfying conclusion.” (Publishers Weekly) “[A] breathtaking achievement, the complexity of which a review can only begin to capture...[A] powerful work.” (Locus) “Moves at a frantic clip...[the] very outlandishness [of Powers’s metaphysics] makes the story all the more compelling.” (Booklist) “[An] intense, downhill-race of a story . . . the summer sleeper hit of 2006.” (Denver Post) “Grade: A . . . Combining historical fact, science-fiction and thriller pacing, THREE DAYS TO NEVER is worth the wait.” (Rocky Mountain News) “Brio, bravado and a salutary measure of lunacy . . . A postmodern work par excellence.” (Washington Post Book World) “[THREE DAYS TO NEVER] contains so many genuine pleasures...plenty of action, humor and unexpectedly touching human drama.” (San Francisco Chronicle) Tim Powers is the author of numerous novels including Hide Me Among the Graves, Three Days to Never, Declare, Last Call, and O