It was supposed to be simple: fire up the time machine, go back to 2005, save Madge ? Frank Peniston's beloved 2005 Chevy Malibu ? from the explosion that took her life.
Instead, a potato-shaped "nine" in Frank's calculations hurls him seven centuries forward into Neo-Welvin, a neon-slick dystopia where:
- His best friend is a cybernetic replica called TRON-ald
- The coastline has been replaced by a subscription-based "Virtual Ocean"
- Ghost Guzzle has been outlawed for containing forty-seven sentient compounds
- And the entire city is ruled by Mayor Plex ? a tyrannical, sentient AI billboard with a ban on citrus
To get home, Frank must team up with TRON-ald to topple Plex's regime, survive hoverpod smugness power systems, infiltrate a skyscraper of shifting ads, and rebuild his battered time machine using parts salvaged from a long-dead Ghost Guzzle bottling plant.
Also: there's mariachi Limp Bizkit, a rooftop cake tribute, and the most inspirational speech ever delivered by a robot in suspenders.
From the mind of Frankfort Petersén, Book 10 in the Frank Peniston Mysteries is a caffeinated time-hopping pulp satire ? blending absurd action, gadget-laden noir, and metaphors so overwrought they could collapse under their own weight.
Justice is timeless. But the Malibu can't wait.
