Z-squared by Sherrie Cronin

This is a book that I won in a Goodreads First Reads contest.

Z-squared, or zee-squared as this is an American book, is an ambitious novel. It contains the making of time-machines, Maya history, American Civil War history, telepathy, racial hatred, a potted history of American immigration policies and a treasure hunt for ancient artifacts. 

The first thing I noticed about this book is that it is volume three of six. However having read it, and not the previous two books in the series, I would say that it is perfectly stand-alone. It does mention the previous two (x to the power of 0 and y to the power of 1) but there is no need to have read them.

The second thing I noticed is that this started as an eBook and the eBook version has some clickable links to help with the atmosphere of the novel, whereas this one has the links in the annex so that you can have the same experience if you wish, although you would need to cross reference to make sure you picked them up in the correct places, and if the URLs change then tough. Plus these are not necessary for the story, just to add to ambiance.

As for the story it starts off on several strands, each one bursting with action from the get go which really helps you get into the novel straight away. Then the story settles as the strands come together with the main strand being a treasure hunt, and the secondary strand being the stirring up of racial tensions in a school where the main character of the book Alex Zeitman works.

The book flits through time with sections from 1696-1697, 1981, 1993, the main part from 2010-2011 and even a bit from the future at the end so that you know what happens to the main characters.

The 1696-1697 part details how three Mayan boxes were to be protected from generation to generation to keep the greatest of treasure from being discovered until the time was right. Only when all three boxes have been reunited will it be clear what the secret they bear was. That is the basis of the treasure hunt that Alex gets involved in.

The other part of Alex’s story includes the setting up of his school club zee-squared, “a club about considering multiple timelines and their ramifications,” i.e. about doing your bit to make the future timeline better. This is in part in response to a growing movement in the school, a school based in Texas in the south, led by Ms. Johnson and endorsed by the principal, towards the return of white supremacy. This culminates in a re-enactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek, a key battle in the loss of the South in the American Civil War, and how if things had been done differently at that battle then things could now be for the better. Of course Alex sees to it that this movement is put in its place and involves his psychics’ students and their “time machines” to make it so.

The novel is ambitious but is pulled off.

(This book is available on Amazon HERE.)