"Stella set up abruptly in her bed... The hands of the clock on the wall were at twelve and three."
Tesseract 3 AM by V. A. Ebeling Pier Avenue Publishing
book review by Cynthia Collins
At forty-four years old, Stella is happily married. Her husband is a respected detective, and their little girl is at the age where she is learning to talk. Despite her secure home life, she still has frequent nightmares about her own abusive childhood and her little daughter being in danger. She always wakes up from these bad dreams at 3 a.m.
A young man, nineteen years old, is released from prison with the understanding that he has a job to do that involves a woman and child. He, too, is faced with dark memories of the past. Stella and her family are in danger from visitors from a fourth dimension appearing in human form. Is this young man helping her or leading her into a trap?
This 127-page novella is a fast-faced, psychological, detective story. It is a sequel to Tesseract Configured and has the same main characters. The author keeps the action moving by giving just enough description as is necessary to set the scene. At times, the pace moves too quickly, skipping over background information that would help define motives, characters, and the fourth dimension.
This can be read easily in one sitting. It is an intriguing story, filled with chase scenes, detectives, and other-worldly beings. The reader is kept in suspense by not always knowing who to trust. Stella and her family are fighting for their lives on a physical and psychological level, within a world of humans and outside visitors.