Daniel Godfrey's New Pompeii is a time-travel thriller that pays homage to Michael Crichton, substituting ancient Romans for resurrected dinosaurs. Crichton's novels generally follow a basic, almost mathematical formula: overweening ambition plus entropy equals a lot of dead people. Godfrey proves the soundness of that formula by replicating it, with entertaining results.
In New Pompeii, a controversial company called Novus Particles has developed the capability to pull objects, animals and even people from the past to the present day. Protagonist and struggling Ph.D. student Nick Houghton is hired by Novus Particles to serve as a historical adviser on its secret project to re-create the ancient city of Pompeii. Zapping the inhabitants forward in time just before they were buried under a mountain of ash, the company has built a replica-Pompeii in a remote location to encourage the Romans to return to business as usual. The true purpose of New Pompeii doesn't become clear until the final chapters, but suffice it to say that the Romans aren't the only ones harboring dangerous schemes.
Much like Crichton, Godfrey seems most at home delving into the nerdy details of his thought experiment, bringing to life the world of the Pompeiians with a convincing degree of historical accuracy. Godfrey does indulge his readership by trotting out the expected gladiator battles and political backstabbing, but he manages to be surprisingly frank and even-handed toward the Romans. New Pompeii succeeds as a sci-fi-inflected thriller on the strength of the author's earnest approach to his outlandish premise. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books