Great Adventure / Self-Discovery Novel

By Running Fool "Rick Eaton" (Chula Vista, CA United States)
This is a great adventure novel. "Owen's," journey around the world in a life & death struggle for survival to find the meaning of life is filled with incredible courage, passion, & hope for mankind. It will stand the test of time.

POWERFUL INTROSPECTIVE ADVENTURE

September 4, 2007 By E. Hunter "aventure seeker" (Raleigh NC)
David Jebb, thorough his protagonist "Owen" (a successful young police officer who abandons his life) takes us inside the mind of a man making his personal pilgrimage across several continents in search of inner peace, understanding, and wholeness. Unknowingly Owen is continually surrendering himself to his environment and the strangers he must encounter to help him each day meet his basic needs for food, water, shelter and more. Not finding his answers, with each step he pushes himself deeper and deeper to the far corners of the earth and into his total dependency on others and his harsh environment for survival. Readers will sense that Owens ever increasing trust in mankind and his own ability to survive anything are driving him dangerously close to the precipice of life. Finally when Owen is extremely sick, exhausted, and as close to death as he can possibly take himself, his long sought after answers are revealed to him in a startling way. A must read for all, Jebbs literary style is completely open, intense, graphic, romantic, action packed, and riveting.

A roaring road trip of self-discovery!

November 11, 2007 By M. D. Jebb "Book Muncher" (Tuebingen, GERMANY)
The character Blue starts the tale of The Thirteenth Time Zone off with a bang. No literally - the familiar "bang-bang" of cops vs. crooks. You get to take a pause from the constant adventures of street officer Owen "Blue" Drew only after 50 or so pages into the book. At this point he begins his transformation from "street officer" into "peace officer." He leaves the force and sets off into the world - and what a world is waiting for him! In reading this novel I found myself flying through the cop stuff (just not my thing, really) in order to get to the juicy "big picture" of the narrative - the search for self-discovery and the lessons learned in traveling. One of David's great strengths as a writer were his unique metaphors used throughout the book. Here are just a few that I relished: "The Eros crashed ahead, taking on wave after wave and throwing back spray that hit my face like the snapping mane of a running horse." (P. 89) "The problem was that every time the Eros fell on her side, bilge water gushed all over the galley. Paper plates and foam cups drifted around me like mocking reminders of what floating was supposed to mean." (P. 96) "I closed my eyes and swayed back and forth like a cobra to the sound of the music." (P. 151) Aside from his colorful descriptions of all that he sees and experiences in his spiritual quest, the novel is not without salacious sex scenes and sharp wit. Again, here are a few tidbits: "Maybe it was the fact that she was offering herself to me the way someone might toss a Kleenex to a friend with a runny nose. Or perhaps it was the little detail of the boyfriend--but somehow, nothing felt right about this." (P. 134) "I wondered what the brothers of the Benedictine Order would say about the idea of promiscuity as a path to Enlightenment." (P. 148) I have no doubt that anyone who purchases this book will be done with it in one to two sittings because it is a true page-turner. Enjoy!

Life, death and enlightenment

This outstanding adventure novel is a mix of The New Centurions & Siddhartha. The adventure quest begins with the violent explosive action on the thin blue line of law & order. It continues with 'Owen's', life & death struggle for survival in his worldwide quest for enlightenment. It is a journey that will never be forgoten by anyone fortunate enough to read The Thirteenth Time Zone.
Also recommended: The New Centurions by Joseph Wambaugh Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.

Rick E. a freelance photographer

So good, I read it twice

San Diego police officer Owen Drew considered his body as another piece of equipment to be used in the war against crime and he kept it in tip-top shape. This enabled him to perform his job superbly. His excellence did not go unnoticed by the upper echelon and one day after roll call, Drew was called into a private meeting with his captain, lieutenant and sergeant. After commending him on his arrest record, the captain asked him, "If you had the power to deal with the gangs in your sector, to handle them any way you like, what would you do?" That question started one of the most exciting, and dangerous, times in Drew's life. Backed with the support of his superiors and fellow officers, with carte blanche to do what was necessary to clear out the gangs in San Diego's most crime-ridden streets, Drew launched his offensive, a modern day warrior, his horse a specially equipped Ford. Bypassing the street runners and middlemen, Drew set his sights on the leaders and the peddlers, figuring to break down their financial network and their leadership. Just how effectively he was doing his job was proved several months later when word was received that the gangs had pooled their money and placed a contract on Drew's head. And all of this is only in the first fifty pages, setting us up for the real story being told, how a man of conscience, wanting only to do the best he can, to protect the weak and the underdog, can have his soul destroyed by the countless encounters with evil. So Drew takes a one-year sabbatical from the job, determined to find his lost soul, starting with a job as crewman on a sailing vessel. When the owner of the sailboat cuts the trip short, Drew continues his journey alone, hitchhiking and walking around the world, living in a commune, taking jobs as he finds them. The year's sabbatical stretches to two before Drew finally finds the inner peace he seeks at a small Swiss village and he realizes that his days as a San Diego police officer are over for good. I really enjoyed "The Thirteenth Time Zone." In fact, I've even reread it.

Joanne Benham for Reader Views
Austin, Texas

Great Adventure / Self-Discovery

This is a great adventure novel. "Owen's," journey around the world in a life & death struggle for survival to find the meaning of life is filled with incredible courage, passion, & hope for mankind. It will stand the test of time.

Running Fool "Richard Eaton" (Chula Vista, CA United States) - See all my reviews
July 28, 2007

First non-technical book I've read in years -- WOW!

David Jebb, thorough his protagonist “Owen” (a successful young police officer who abandons his life) takes us inside the mind of a man making his personal pilgrimage across several continents in search of inner peace, understanding, and wholeness. Unknowingly Owen is continually surrendering himself to his environment and the strangers he must encounter to help him each day meet his basic needs for food, water, shelter and more. Not finding his answers, with each step he pushes himself deeper and deeper to the far corners of the earth and into his total dependency on others and his harsh environment for survival. Readers will sense that Owens ever increasing trust in mankind and his ability to survive anything are driving him dangerously close to the precipice of life. Finally when Owen is extremely sick, exhausted, and as close to death as he can possibly take himself, his long sought after answers are revealed to him in a startling way. A must read for all, Jebbs literary style is completely open, intense, graphic, romantic, action packed, and riveting.

Gene Hunter

A Fellow Traveler's Review

I cannot begin to even relate the emotional state your book left me
in. I never realized how many parallels your life and mine have
taken; it was almost as though I was reading about
myself. Obviously, i never starved myself because i had "nothing" to
eat (although i got scurvy while studying in Spain), or had to eat
dirt with a rifle barrel at my head (but there was this one time at
the B-52 base....jejejeje). But the journeys searching for an answer
to questions unasked and not fully pondered, are amazingly similar.

I remember meeting a girl in Mexico city after I had just been hit by
a car...She had been taking flight instruction at Purdue University
from the same flight instructor who had been teaching me at my local
airport....and was I ever glad to talk to someone in english after
suffering such a calamity. The world is such a large place, but yet
so finite...it makes a circle and once around it, you start the
journeys over again.

There were times that tears rolled down my face, and I will tell you,
it has been a very long time since i have shed a tear, let alone shed
one from something so moving as a book. I tell you these things,
because I believe you have provided many with a lot to think about.

May good reviews shower you.

Phil of Ohio

An Engrossing Tale

A thrilling, fascinating story with wonderful detail and personality. We are deeply drawn into identification with the central character during his lonely odyssey. I cannot imagine how anyone could read this novel without being quite emotionally affected. In fact, the book was so absorbing that I read it straight through, with barely a stop for sleep.
A brilliantly written book, which I highly recommend!

Maria Murphy, Sweden

Couldn't wait to turn the page!!

Jebb's tale of the adventures of Det. Blue through the crime ridden streets of San Diego grabbed me from the first page and continued to do so throughout his travels into another world.Very well written and an excellent read.Looking forward to traveling into more time zones with David Jebb. All readers need to experience the works of Jebb, you won't be disappointed!

leah, springfield, Mo., an avid reader

Total Surprise!

When a friend told me to read this book, I was uncertain as to why and what I would find. Boy! What a joy! I live in San Diego and from the very beginning it caught me. Just as I was getting to believe where the author was taking me... Bam... off we go into an entirely different and extremely enjoyable direction. This book is very well written and captures you from the get-go. You can feel the passion that David brings to this story. I do alot of reading... and I must say this book is among the top of the list. I did not want to put it down and go back to work!!!!

This book is a total surprise! It is not what you expect by the cover or the title... but is one that you will very much enjoy. I enjoyed it soooo much that I did not want it to end.... hope he writes the sequel to this ....PLEASE!?!?!?

read this one! you will not be disappointed...promise!

Michael R. Swanson "Mike Swanson" (San DIego)

One Reader's Review

"The Thirteenth Time Zone"is an adventure book for men. The adventure leads the main character, a tough street cop working the night shift and high crime area of San Diego, to find his spiritual and feminine side of himself. Most men fight against acknowledging the spiritual and especially feminine part of their inner self. This fight leads, Owen, the main character in the book to becomes a hard fighting male that fights with his fists to dominate his surroundings. He wins the external brawls, but continues to lose the fight of the interior man. That loss drives him on an adventure to find something he knows he needs, but he is not even sure what that "something" is, which makes the adventure even more intense.

Owen is a man that travels half way around the world experiencing, a hurricane in a small sailboat, commune living with hippies that turned their backs on the material world, hard drinking truck drivers hauling goods from England to Tehran. In addition, along the way he encounters highway robbers, sickness, enlightened monks in India and hunger and squalor on the streets of cities in India, Iran and Europe. But in spite of all the hard times, Owen, is always delivered to a new level of spiritual awareness and physical care. Delivery always came in the form of a person that would show up to give him just what he needed when he needed it. It happened time and again until the final person that shows up in his life is the ultimate gift and at a time and place that seems impossible to believe."

Jerry V.
Erie, PA

Visual -- Wow

I finished your book last week and I again want to tell you that your book is GREAT. Your writing is state-of-art and is as strong as any writer in the "professional' category I have ever read. You have a real ability to write "visually." I cannot recall a book that I have read where the writing feels like watching a movie. Usually the "picture" fades at different times in a book while reading non-visual facts that add detail to a story. I do not have problems with dry facts to move a story, but in your book it was as if I was constantly looking and watching the action you wrote about. I am not sure how you do that, but it was truly a joy to read your writing. I hated to see the book end. I am glad to hear that there will be book two and three.

Thank you from Al Asad, Iraq

I was puzzled when I first received your book here in Iraq. There are only two former SDPD officers in my family so it was not hard to track down how you came about sending me a copy. It came as a great gift as mail is not something received often. I have just finished reading it today and could not put it down once I got started. I really look forward to reading the next two…



Thank you!!!!

David A.
SSG, USA
“Combat” CSSAMO
593rd Corps Support Group
Al Asad, Iraq