Portals In A Northern Sky
By Charles Douglas Hayes 

     This ambitious first novel is a cross-genre epic that takes place in a number of settings, including the American frontier and Alaska. You will find history, science fiction, philosophy, and adventure is this multi-generational saga.

    The story's vortex is physicist Adam Whitehead, who has gone into the wilds of Alaska to die. His parents both died from complications of Alzheimer's disease, and he's convinced that he will too. His plan is to disappear from society, and end his own life when the time comes. He was instrumental in developing a theory that will allow anyone with an Internet connection to view historical events as they happen in real time. The President of the United States is about to announce the universal availability of that technology.

      Going to any coordinates, as long as it was outside and there was no cloud cover, it is possible to go back as far as the cavemen and watch it 'live.' The repercussions could, of course, be cataclysmic.

      Bob Thornton is a Wall Street superstar, who feels that real life is passing him by, and just walks away from it all. He's not sure where he's going or what he'll do, but there has to be more to life than Wall Street. Hitchhiking his way north, he is picked up by Ruben Sanchez, a middle aged bookstore owner and self-educated philosopher. Alternating chapters are devoted to their philosophic discussions on their way to Alaska, mostly centered on Herman Melville and Moby Dick.

      Hayes is a talented novelist, and a master at characterization. The plot is generally fast paced and mesmerizing, but does tend to bog down a bit with philosophy. I found myself skipping over some of the Thornton-Sanchez discussions to get back to the action, and the action was great!

     I lost a night's sleep because I couldn't tear myself away from the story, and will definitely watch for more by this author.