Max Quick is a pickpocket, a vagabond, an orphan, and a thief. Even so, nothing about him seems particularly special . . . until one day when time mysteriously stops. Suddenly, nearly everyone in the world is frozen in time—except for Max.

Now Max must journey across America to find the source of the Time-stop. Along the way, he meets others who aren't suspended in time, like Casey, a girl who's never been on her own until now. Together, as they search for the cause of this disaster, Max and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, magic books, and clues to the riddle of stopped time. But relentless and mysterious villains are hot on Max's heels and will do everything in their power to prevent Max from ending the Time-stop. And the closer Max gets to the answers, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed.

Racing against a clock that no longer ticks, Max must embrace his past to save his future—and the world—from being altered forever.

When time stops, Max Quick is not affected. He finds Casey who also is not affected. They find that in the "pocket" they can run at tremendous speeds which they call "whooshing." They encounter a strange man with an ancient looking flying machine who seems to be using the time stoppage to search earth for something. They also find a large gang of other kids who have not been affected by the stoppage of time. This book was okay. The characters were not fully developed. The ways the author played with time was fun.

I won a copy of this book on Good reads and received it just a couple of days ago. Oddly enough, I was just finishing Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I say oddly enough because, in many ways, Max Quick is like Snow Crash for kids. Both books deal with ancient Sumeria and the god, Enki, in both books, the bad guys are trying to control people by the use of a device based on Sumeria, in SC a virus, in MQ a pendant. SC is set in a chaotic America, MQ in a chaotic time pocket.

Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoyed this book. It is fast-paced, the main characters are likable and the story is fun. max Quick is aimed at children between 8 and 12 and I suspect that it would easily appal to both boys and girls in this age group. ( )