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Für einen toten Meisterdetektiv Hercule Poirot lassen sogar Supergangster wie die »Großen Vier« etwas springen: Aus vollen, dankbaren Herzen spenden sie zu seiner Beerdigung einen schönen Kranz. Aber sie haben die Rechnung ohne die Leiche gemacht. Denn der Kampf gegen die »Großen Vier« geht weiter, nach einem genau vorausberechneten Plan voller Finten und Überraschungen, wie ihn nur ein Hercule Poirot ersinnen kann...

Titel des Originals:»The Big Four«

Übertragung aus dem Englischen von Hans Mehl

When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole" and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the social front, you should avoid provoking "the butcher of Crecy" or Sir Oliver may lop your head off with a swoosh of his broadsword or cage and immerse you in "Milady's Bath", a brackish dungeon pit into which live rats are tossed now and then for prisoners to eat.

This is the plight of the heroes of , Michael Crichton's thriller. They're historians in 1999 employed by a tech billionaire-genius with more than a few of Bill Gates' most unlovable quirks. Like the entrepreneur in Crichton's , Doniger plans a theme park featuring artefacts from a lost world revived via cutting-edge science. When the project's chief historian sends a distress call to 1999 from 1357, the boss man doesn't tell the younger historians the risks they'll face trying to save him. At first, the interplay between eras is clever but Timeline swiftly becomes a swashbuckling old-fashioned adventure, with just a dash of science and time paradox in the mix. Most of the cool facts are about the Middle Ages and Crichton marvellously brings the past to life without ever letting the pulse-pounding action slow down. At one point, a time-tripper tries to enter the Chapel of Green Death. Unfortunately, its custodian, a crazed giant with terrible teeth and a bad case of lice, soon has her head on a block. "She saw a shadow move across the grass as he raised his axe into the air." Try not to turn the page!

Through the narrative can be glimpsed the glowing bones of the movie that may be made from and the high tech computer game that should hit the market in 2000. Expect many clashing swords and chase scenes through secret castle passages. But the book stands alone, tall and scary as a knight in armour shining with blood.

A gyermekkor vége (angolul: Childhood´s End) Sir Arthur C. Clarke 1953-ban kiadott sci-fi regénye. Clark Őrangyal című novelláján alapul, amely 1950-ben jelent meg a Famous Fantastic Mysteries magazinban. Később egy új előszót írt hozzá, amelyben ellenben az előzővel, kifejti, hogy manapság már teljesen szkeptikus az okkult, misztikus dolgokkal kapcsolatban. Magyarul első változata 1990-ben jelent meg a Móra Ferenc Könyvkiadónál F. Nagy Piroska fordításában<

Lanius is the only son of King Mergus of Avornis. But he is the son of the king’s seventh wife—and therefore illegitimate in the eyes of church and state. After the king’s death, the council of regents takes advantage of the irregular succession to use young Lanius as their figurehead while they rule behind the scenes.

Grus is a captain in the king’s navy, a man of common origins, as well as common sense. He is charged with guarding Avornis’ border against her enemies—including those who live in thrall of the Banished One. He’s watched his homeland weaken under careless rulers—and fears for the future as disturbing visions torment his dreams.

Now both Lanius and Grus must decide what’s best for the kingdom—before the influence of the Banished One spreads to their people as well.

While young King Lanius dreams of being more than a mere figurehead, his fellow sovereign, the usurper King Grus, is defending Avornis against the shadowy plots of the Banished One—the dark god cast from heaven, who seeks now to dominate the mortal world.

With the barbarous, nomadic Menteshe in the south holding the Scepter of Mercy—and civil war raging among the Chernagor city-states in the north—Avornis finds itself threatened on two fronts. King Grus and his army are in the land of the Chernagors, hoping to quell the trouble—without becoming bogged down in a protracted war. Grus may be able to form an alliance against the Menteshe…Then again, it could be an inescapable trap.

But the longer the kings go without acting on their dream of retaking the Scepter of Mercy, the greater the advantage the Banished One gains. However, sending soldiers against the Menteshe risks having the army turned into half-mindless thralls. But sooner or later, King Grus will have to strike—before his people realize just how formidable an enemy the Banished One truly is…

Can Alice escape Zombieland before the Dead Red Queen catches up to her?

When little Alice falls asleep, she finds herself in an undead nightmare of rotting flesh and insanity. Following a talking rat, she ventures further into this land of zombies and monsters.

There’s also something else troubling poor Alice: her skin is rotting and her hair is falling out. She’s cold and there’s the haunting feeling that if she remains in Zombieland any longer, she might never leave and forever be caught between life and death.

Have a seat at the table for the Tea Party of your life and explore the wondrous adventure that is Zombieland.

Aus dem Englischen

von Gertrud Müller

Die Originalausgabe erschien unter dem Titel

THE ABC MURDERS

© 1936 Agatha Christie Limited,

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