Killing Time    by Linda Howard Order:  USA  Can Ballantine, 2005 (2005) Hardcover, Audio, CD     Reviewed by Martina Bexte Fifteen-year-old Knox Davis and his dad are part of a small crowd of spectators who are present on New Year's Day, 1985, when a time capsule is buried next to the flagpole in front of the county courthouse. Knox, who's always been inquisitive by nature, wonders why thirteen items are placed inside the capsule rather than the twelve reported in the local newspaper. The only man who might be able to answer the question is the football coach, but Knox never gets a chance to ask him. The next day Coach Eisley's body is found hanging from a tree in his backyard. That is the day that Knox Davis decides to become a cop. Two decades later, someone has dug up and stolen the time capsule. When Investigator Knox Davis is alerted to the theft, his interest is once again piqued by an old puzzle he'd all but forgotten. After viewing security tapes, he's even more mystified; either the footage was tampered with or the culprits who'd unearthed the capsule and stolen its contents were invisible. Add to that a few more murders and the mysterious arrival of FBI agent Nikita Stover, and things get even more interesting. It doesn't take long for Knox to discover that Agent Stover's not who she says she is. Nikita takes a big risk by taking Knox into her confidence; she informs him that she really is with the FBI, but not the present day Bureau, rather one two hundred years in the future. And that she needs his help to stop a killer who's determined to change history. Over the course of her career, Linda Howard has embellished a handful of her plotlines with touches of fantasy (Dream Man and Son of the Morning) and she does so again in Killing Time. Knox and Nikita are both well-rounded and likeable characters, particularly Knox, who's a nice departure from her usual uber-Alpha males. His fascination with puzzles makes him the perfect partner for 'fish-out-of-water' Nikita as she hunts for a traitor from among her own Bureau's ranks. There's plenty of action and the growing romance between the two leads has a few added layers as Knox and Nikita teach each other the differences (both good and bad) between the 21st and the 23rd centuries. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Romance books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews