A Matter of Time

A Matter of Time is a novel by Glen Cook, combining elements of science fiction (specifically, time travel), crime fiction and spy thriller. In regard to the last, the novel in particular takes up and expands the theme of American prisoners of war being brainwashed in Communist China and their loyalties reversed – a theme made famous through the novel The Manchurian Candidate and film made on its basis. The book was re-published in 2011, along with other earlier works of Glen Cook. Plot summary The book has three distinct plot lines, set out in alternating chapters, and weaving back and forth in time. The reader, sharing the various points of view of the alternating characters, is in effect omniscient, knowing many things which are a mystery to the characters themselves.