Publisher's summary

In an Arizona desert a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival—six hundred years ago. . . .

©1999 by Michael Crichton (P)1999 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"COMPULSIVE READING . . . BRILLIANTLY IMAGINED."--Los Angeles Times

"EXCITING . . . CLASSIC ADVENTURE . . . [A] SWASHBUCKLING NOVEL . . . CRICHTON DELIVERS."--USA Today

"MORE SCREAMS PER PAGE . . . THAN JURASSIC PARK AND THE LOST WORLD COMBINED. . . . THE PACE WILL LEAVE MANY BREATHLESSLY GRASPING FOR OXYGEN MASKS."--San Diego Union-Tribune

What listeners say about Timeline

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,602
  • 4 Stars
    2,077
  • 3 Stars
    887
  • 2 Stars
    266
  • 1 Stars
    121
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,765
  • 4 Stars
    1,337
  • 3 Stars
    515
  • 2 Stars
    143
  • 1 Stars
    82
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,829
  • 4 Stars
    1,256
  • 3 Stars
    559
  • 2 Stars
    142
  • 1 Stars
    66

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating!

As a fan of hard-science style SciFi, I was fascinated by the 14th century perspective on technology. Crichton's descriptions of the advancements of that age were astonishing. I found myself on the internet doing additional research on several historical events before I finished the novel. Well written by Crichton, and well read by the narrator. I enjoyed every minute of the 15 hours.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Excellent Book!

I was wrong! At first I thought the book might be a bit long...BUT...I was wrong! The book was action packed, suspensefull, and was moving all of the time. The book was real hard to "put down." The reader was also excellent. Very good tone and inflection. Would recommend to everyone!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

they need to re- edit the recording.

Great story, bad recording. periods of the story have different volumes others have background noise and then there are long gaps were no noise no reading no nothing and then the story picks back up again.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great ride

Solid book filled with suspense throughout. I enjoyed this tremendously and am sorry I didn't know about it sooner.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Timeline

Twists and turns, with a very cool ending. It would make a great movie.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Solid Crichton

Timeline is a legit book, it’s not one of Crichton’s best, but that’s only because he wrote so many good books. Timeline starts really strong with this nefarious company trying to bend the rules and make time traveling into big business. But it goes awry and some people have to make a trek to the past to fix things. That part of the book is a little weaker, it can be a bit cliched at times and it loses some of the intrigue of the beginning of the book. But still a good listen. Enjoy!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The speaker was fine. The audio had issues

Second time listening to this book. I have a few small issues with the " cages" traveled in, but the story is over all a pretty good one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Needs updated production

Overall really good, but there are some gaps in production. About 30 seconds of dead air here and there. Also you can tell when they stop and start recording because the quality is not always the same. Enjoyed the story. Do not watch the movie.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

overall a good story but slow

the story was interesting over all but it was a bit slow for my taste. I did enjoy the journey but would have liked more action. the performance was entertaining enough to keep me engaged and I did like the characters.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pauses and spots of echoing ruined experience

The story was a pretty interesting mix of history and science fiction which I enjoyed.

I liked the narrators performance as well but the odd long pauses where you think it stopped playing and spots where you can hear an echo ruined the overall experience for me personally.

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