What do you think?
Rate this book
Time Out of Mind
Manhattan executive Corbin is haunted by memories of another time--memories that do not belong to him. Then, in the midst of a raging New York City snowstorm, the inexplicable images become more vivid and real. And before he knows it, Jonathan Corbin has stepped into a bygone world of gaslit streets and horsedrawn carriages--and into the center of a nineteenth-century maelstrom of love, revenge, obsession...and death. Through the swirling snow, he can make out the figure of a woman--someone he can't possibly recognize, but does; someone he knows he is destined to kill.
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
39 people are currently reading
563 people want to read
About the author
John R. Maxim
21 books43 followersJohn R. Maxim was born in Greenwich Village, NYC, educated at NY Jesuit Schools (Xavier and Fordham) played all the street sports and most team sports.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 12, 2017
Not my kind of book, but so clever and engrossing that I wound up finishing it anyway. Too bad the ending didn't get smarter, or the heroes more likable, but I don't regret reading it. In fact, if you do read thrillers, especially Dean Koontz, I think you might get a kick out of this. Lots of details of historical fiction make it interesting, and worth the high number of pages, too.
It is a tiny bit dated, but not in any obtrusive way except once when a character bemoans that there's "no such thing as all-night libraries." All he needed he could have googled.
Some details: I never knew that "vinegar sponges" were an early form of birth control. Not terribly effective, I imagine, but better than nothing. I didn't know about Anthony Comstock and "September Morn." I didn't know that Teddy Roosevelt was only 5'10" (and when checking that just now, I learned that Winston Churchill was only 5'6").
It is a tiny bit dated, but not in any obtrusive way except once when a character bemoans that there's "no such thing as all-night libraries." All he needed he could have googled.
Some details: I never knew that "vinegar sponges" were an early form of birth control. Not terribly effective, I imagine, but better than nothing. I didn't know about Anthony Comstock and "September Morn." I didn't know that Teddy Roosevelt was only 5'10" (and when checking that just now, I learned that Winston Churchill was only 5'6").
May 15, 2016
My all time favorite book!!!
I have bought this book several times, including a first edition. It embodies the perfect ghost story, along with adventure and some fascinating tidbits of history along the way. I totally admire the heroes and only wish I could actually meet them, but I'm thrilled to share their lives and worlds through this book.
I have bought this book several times, including a first edition. It embodies the perfect ghost story, along with adventure and some fascinating tidbits of history along the way. I totally admire the heroes and only wish I could actually meet them, but I'm thrilled to share their lives and worlds through this book.
April 5, 2012
Jonathan Corbin is losing his mind, reliving the experiences of someone else in the 1880s. Thru the course of the book, we learn his memories are ancestral, and a story of love and lies among the bluebloods of old New York unfolds. Family treachery drives the plot. Use of real figures as supporting cast lends a sense of authenticity to the historical sequences which are the heart of the story. The protagonist's loosening grip on temporal reality and battle to retain a sense of self as the past becomes more real than the present forms another thread of this psychological thriller/mystery/time travel novel. Set and written in the 1980s and recently released in light of the explosion of the urban fantasy genre, even the 'today' parts of the book now read as historical, such as doing research on microfiche at the library. A more complex book than expected; recommended.
February 26, 2017
a book I continue to think about. I want to find a copy and reread it.
so I reread it. It's not what I remember, which is a ghost story, or timetravel.
Still a good read. Strong writing in a complex plot. I'm intrigued by the POV he used so well.
so I reread it. It's not what I remember, which is a ghost story, or timetravel.
Still a good read. Strong writing in a complex plot. I'm intrigued by the POV he used so well.
February 12, 2018
Transfixed. This book had me going the whole time. Loved the characters, loved the old New York City setting, loved the general premise. Had just enough action to keep the story moving along. A fantastic read.
September 16, 2012
Read this in 1986 and loved it. Just recently purchased it and now reading it again!!!
July 6, 2014
Not so much the 'ghost story' that it is pitched as being, given the quotes used on the back of the copy I read, but instead an interesting mystery that, although overly long at times in the minutiae of old school New York City, nevertheless invites you to come down the rabbit hole with its main character, Jonathan Corbin.
The story follows Corbin on a journey of discovery as he struggles to deal with his slipping grasp of reality. Every time it snows, he finds himself misplaced in time; no longer in 1986, but in 1886 and on the tail of someone, he feels, he intends to kill. 1986 isn't so peachy either, as it becomes evident that he isn't safe, no matter what time period he's in.
And so begins a story of intrigue, family and loyalty, all set against the backdrop of this interesting sci-fi mystery backdrop. The book itself refers at times to the unnatural, unexplainable, happenings as ghostly; as supernatural, but I disagree. The closest thing I want to compare it to is the popular video game franchise, of which I am familiar, Assassin's Creed. The key isn't in relieving memories through ghostly possession, Time Out of Mind approaches it as unlocking a persons deeply embedded genetic code. Genetic memories. A theme familiar to Assassin's Creed and its fan base, as is the use of real life characters as supporting characters to a fictional story. This is what kept me reading throughout its longer-than-needed page count as I allowed myself to immerse myself in cracking Corbin's genetic code and memories. It is a more interesting concept than that of simply being supernatural, and, in 1986, I imagine it would have been quite original.
The characters themselves are likeable enough, though a few do tend to rely heavily on stereotypes. The hard-nosed ex-cop detective character, the scholared donor character, etc, etc. But these weren't enough to derail the story or my interest in it. The melodrama that the novel crescendo'd with did feel a little soap opera-esque, but was satisfying enough after the 500+ pages that preceeded it. The only real flaw I found with Maxim's writing style was his almost exhaustive detail in describing old New York; even when describing street names there was a constant sense of having a lot of information crammed into long sentences that became quite tiring.
For those interested in the concept of genetic memories, then Time Out of Mind is a fun read that tackles the subject in the way the best sic-fi should be treated: seriously. What is first considered to simply be madness, soon evolves into so much more and allows the book to become a time travel novel with some actual depth to it.
The story follows Corbin on a journey of discovery as he struggles to deal with his slipping grasp of reality. Every time it snows, he finds himself misplaced in time; no longer in 1986, but in 1886 and on the tail of someone, he feels, he intends to kill. 1986 isn't so peachy either, as it becomes evident that he isn't safe, no matter what time period he's in.
And so begins a story of intrigue, family and loyalty, all set against the backdrop of this interesting sci-fi mystery backdrop. The book itself refers at times to the unnatural, unexplainable, happenings as ghostly; as supernatural, but I disagree. The closest thing I want to compare it to is the popular video game franchise, of which I am familiar, Assassin's Creed. The key isn't in relieving memories through ghostly possession, Time Out of Mind approaches it as unlocking a persons deeply embedded genetic code. Genetic memories. A theme familiar to Assassin's Creed and its fan base, as is the use of real life characters as supporting characters to a fictional story. This is what kept me reading throughout its longer-than-needed page count as I allowed myself to immerse myself in cracking Corbin's genetic code and memories. It is a more interesting concept than that of simply being supernatural, and, in 1986, I imagine it would have been quite original.
The characters themselves are likeable enough, though a few do tend to rely heavily on stereotypes. The hard-nosed ex-cop detective character, the scholared donor character, etc, etc. But these weren't enough to derail the story or my interest in it. The melodrama that the novel crescendo'd with did feel a little soap opera-esque, but was satisfying enough after the 500+ pages that preceeded it. The only real flaw I found with Maxim's writing style was his almost exhaustive detail in describing old New York; even when describing street names there was a constant sense of having a lot of information crammed into long sentences that became quite tiring.
For those interested in the concept of genetic memories, then Time Out of Mind is a fun read that tackles the subject in the way the best sic-fi should be treated: seriously. What is first considered to simply be madness, soon evolves into so much more and allows the book to become a time travel novel with some actual depth to it.
May 20, 2019
This lengthy, complex novel doesn’t really fall into any category or genre, which makes it difficult to write a review. Jonathan Corbin is either personally haunted, or has genetic flashbacks, or has experienced reincarnations within his own bloodline. He shares a POV with his own great-grandfather, Tilden Beckwith, starting in New York City during the great killer blizzard of 1888 (no, it’s not a rip-off of Finney’s Time and Again), when he discovers not only that his putative son was actually the result of an affair his wife had while he was out of the country -- he’s hazy on the actual length of human gestation -- but that his wife (a real bitch if there ever was one) was also feeding business information to his enemies, especially Jay Gould. Then Tilden falls for a not-quite-prostitute named Margaret, which adds multiple layers of complication to his life and the lives of his descendants. The offspring of his (now late) wife’s affair get all the bad genes, and the family business as well. Jonathan is also physically the very image of Tilden, down to a scar on the eyebrow, and his own girlfriend appears to closely resemble Margaret. And the matriarch of the bastard side of the family (the other bastard side, that is) is the image of Tilden’s treacherous wife. So there are threads of corporate skullduggery, time travel, mysticism, thwarted love, police corruption, and bigotry to sort through. And baseball, don’t forget the baseball. The best character, for my money, though, is Lesko, the ex-cop (also corrupt, of course) turned PI and strong-arm, who gets many of the best lines and most of the action. An interesting book, but you really have to pay attention.
July 30, 2017
I admit I didn't have much hope for this book. We brought it to the beach as a beach read and I figured I'd lose interest 25-30 pages in. I normally have several books going at once and this one became the book for a day and a half. I was so engrossed in it that others noticed and read it after I was finished (I wasn't going to share it). Excellent writing, wonderful storytelling, great detail. Enjoyable from beginning to end.
August 17, 2008
Good read. Well written
March 19, 2010
Agreat take on time travel, mystery and ancestral memory..some historical. I enjoyed this so much I read it again..
April 13, 2011
Not as good as Platforms but a really unique book worth reading.
March 9, 2023
I really wanted to like this book. The theme and main focus of the book wwer really compelling and the story line was intriguing. However, the Kindle version was full of mistakes which were annoying. There were hypens all over the place and it was difficult to determine where a paragraph began and ended. Many misspellings as well.
The writing was so confusing. I could not figure out who was doing what or what time period was being discussed. Other authors have done a great job with time travel. However, this book was so difficult to read and was so frustrating. The author could have used better Chapter Titles and could have use some sort of symbols between paragraphs so that the reader would be aware of when the topic was changing.
The writing was so confusing. I could not figure out who was doing what or what time period was being discussed. Other authors have done a great job with time travel. However, this book was so difficult to read and was so frustrating. The author could have used better Chapter Titles and could have use some sort of symbols between paragraphs so that the reader would be aware of when the topic was changing.
February 5, 2023
What a story! This is NOT a quick read and not an easy read. The chapters are lengthy and complex and the book is more than 500 pages in length. All of that said, I became engrossed on page one and although it took time to digest all of the facts, fiction, entanglements and characters (names and identities) this is a story I'll long remember and genetic memory is something I wouldn't rule out whether it might ever present as in this story or not...I suspect we've all felt a sense of having lived through events in the past or recognized places we are visiting for the first time and this story pulls you in in that regard.
June 23, 2025
A LOT of characters ... some real, some imagined, some historical, and some our main character doesn't seem to know if they are real or imagined. A compelling mystery ... figure out what is the significance of our main character's "daydreams ... or should I say day nightmares?" I love the way the author has wound together past and present, in setting, in writing style, and in characters (some who are real characters from our historical past.) I love the way fiction and fantasy and reality all work together to tell this story.
December 25, 2023
There are three books that I will reread because you learn something new each time you read them, this is one of them. Even tho it was written and published in 1986, it is worth your time to find it, pick it up, and read it. It is an awesome book about a man who moves to NYC and every time it snows, he goes into a full fledged panic attack but you need to read the book to understand why. So worth the read.
December 9, 2023
I have been reading this book for more than a month and cannot find any reason to continue trying to finish it. The story itself is not interesting to me, I am not attached to any of the characters, and I just don’t care what happens at all.
November 4, 2017
I’m not sure how to classify this one. It is historical fiction, past life memory, time travel, mystery, crime novel, not super engrossing yet I was compelled to finish.
December 10, 2019
Nope, I am not reading this...
March 9, 2023
I didn't finish it so far the book is not giving hook vibe to finished it
August 7, 2014
This book is not for a casual summer read - it needs concentration to get to grips with all the Corbins and Beckwiths and to follow events in different time periods.
It has an intriguing start and I found I had lots of questions most of which were answered although it did have a slightly odd ending where you weren't quite certain whether the door was closed.
There was lots of famous names as part of the story but they were interweaved in and were integral to the plot which I found quite charming. There was an acceptance in the story that there appeared to be little law and order except that which was corrupt and little reliance on the law to step in. The historical background and detail was really interesting.
Gwen Leamas as Jonathan's girlfriend was a saint for sticking with him. And Tilden/Jonathan engendered great loyalty amongst friends who did things for him at great personal risk. The characters seemed to have 9 lives receiving beatings that would kill most people but be up on their feet which stretched credulity at times bit like watching The A Team. And there it seems to be a lot of beatings. Tilden wasn't an innocent he caused a lot of what subsequently happened. He murdered Ella and fostered the resentment in her son/family which started the path of revenge by treating him badly with no explanation.
On the whole I enjoyed the book but at times it was a little tough going.
It has an intriguing start and I found I had lots of questions most of which were answered although it did have a slightly odd ending where you weren't quite certain whether the door was closed.
There was lots of famous names as part of the story but they were interweaved in and were integral to the plot which I found quite charming. There was an acceptance in the story that there appeared to be little law and order except that which was corrupt and little reliance on the law to step in. The historical background and detail was really interesting.
Gwen Leamas as Jonathan's girlfriend was a saint for sticking with him. And Tilden/Jonathan engendered great loyalty amongst friends who did things for him at great personal risk. The characters seemed to have 9 lives receiving beatings that would kill most people but be up on their feet which stretched credulity at times bit like watching The A Team. And there it seems to be a lot of beatings. Tilden wasn't an innocent he caused a lot of what subsequently happened. He murdered Ella and fostered the resentment in her son/family which started the path of revenge by treating him badly with no explanation.
On the whole I enjoyed the book but at times it was a little tough going.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 26, 2012
The underlying idea of "genetic memories" is intriguing and "Time of of Mind" was my first exposure to the concept. John Maxim explores the implications of this concept in two ways. The main character, Corbin, experiences genetic memories, perhaps to extreme. Gwen is amazingly accepting of the idea of genetic memories and supports Corbin's efforts to probe the events that devastated his family some 60 years ago.
The "blurb" for this book appealed, so I took advantage of $0 pricing to download the e-book edition a while back. And I did finish the whole thing. But it was a struggle, primarily because of formatting problems - hyphens everywhere and strange indents were very distracting. The pace for the first 65% of the book was very slow. The author took plenty of time to describe Corbin's genetic memories, but everyone around Corbin seemed too ready to accept the concept.
Typically, when an e-book has so many formatting problems I will delete it after reading 5 to 10%. The fact that I finished this one despite the formatting problems is testament to the strength of the underlying storyline. A re-edit of the e-version will vastly enhance its appeal.
The "blurb" for this book appealed, so I took advantage of $0 pricing to download the e-book edition a while back. And I did finish the whole thing. But it was a struggle, primarily because of formatting problems - hyphens everywhere and strange indents were very distracting. The pace for the first 65% of the book was very slow. The author took plenty of time to describe Corbin's genetic memories, but everyone around Corbin seemed too ready to accept the concept.
Typically, when an e-book has so many formatting problems I will delete it after reading 5 to 10%. The fact that I finished this one despite the formatting problems is testament to the strength of the underlying storyline. A re-edit of the e-version will vastly enhance its appeal.
April 30, 2024
Interesting concept for a story: Johnathon is possessed by his grandfather Tilden's ghost, who shows Johnathon scenes from the past and takes over Johnathon's actions at times. The story covers Johnathon's and Tilden's lives, moving back and forth between them. Johnathon could be walking down a busy, modern New York City street and be confronted by buildings and people from the late 1800's or early 1900's. Could get confusing if you don't pay attention.
Wasn't reformatted properly for Kindle and there are pagination marks in random places. Character names misspelled, some technical errors such as paragraphing. Needs editing, but the story itself was good.
Wasn't reformatted properly for Kindle and there are pagination marks in random places. Character names misspelled, some technical errors such as paragraphing. Needs editing, but the story itself was good.
September 13, 2013
This book has so many flaws I don't know where to begin. It's sort of a time travel novel without real time travel. The author sets up a premise as to how this is accomplished, then promptly violates his own (dumb) rationale, and when he needs the characters to have other psychic powers, whaddaya know, they do. You also get viewpoint characters changing from paragraph to paragraph, and once in a while within a paragraph. And more, but I won't go on. On the plus side, there's some nice research in evidence about 1880s New York.
September 20, 2012
Story was interesting and the details of 1880s New York City was fascinating. The characters were likeable (or not) and engaged my interest.
On the downside, the formatting was terrible - words in the middle of the line were hyphenated for no reason, "and" became "arid" on more than one occasion. The breaks between the pov's was non-existent, although in reading along it was obvious after a moment. I would read more of this author.
On the downside, the formatting was terrible - words in the middle of the line were hyphenated for no reason, "and" became "arid" on more than one occasion. The breaks between the pov's was non-existent, although in reading along it was obvious after a moment. I would read more of this author.
May 2, 2012
Was an awful LONG detailed story -- was difficult for me because the print was too small to read, even on the biggest setting, just wasn't right! Also every hyphen possible in a word was displayed (which made it extremely difficult to read). Pages were not formatted correctly either, every other page was different! Story was just too long, not very believable!
June 3, 2012
Interesting story line, well developed characters, kept me going. Lot of LONG descriptions, many irrelevant, so I skipped several pages. A bit slow for the first 2/3 or so- kind of repetitive. The last 1/3 definitely exciting. Free Amazon book is why I read it. Overall ok read, but not highly recommended.
January 23, 2012
Excellent mystery, suspense, and fantasy. 1890's New York. Get to know Theodore Roosevelt before he was president.Meet the railroad barons. I love this book.
May 12, 2012
I was truly absorbed by this richly detailed story. It's a blend of historical fiction, time travel, mystery, and romance that had me in its thrall.
July 11, 2012
could not get into this book.. got confused.. to much info that was not needed for the story line might try and read later..
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews