…

entertained through the pages of this wonderful book. What more can I say… Just read “Returning”… get into the story…. and you will understand what I am trying to say…

Jerry Louise Abbey

Comanche, Texas

I WAS ON DOD’S WEBSITE, TRYING TO REVIEW ‘THE RETURNING’, WHICH I HONESTLY THINK IS A GREAT BOOK, SO HERE GOES; I AM AN AVID READER, AND ‘THE RETURNING’ IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES. I HAVE READ IT SEVERAL TIMES. THIS BOOK TAKES YOU BACK TO AN EXCITING AND VIBRANT TIME IN OUR HISTORY, AND MAKES YOU FEEL AS IF YOU ARE THERE, NOT JUST READING ABOUT BEING THERE. THE CHARACTERS ARE VIVID AND UNFORGETTABLE. I DIDN’T WANT THE BOOK TO END. I WOULD BESEECH MR. SCHULTZ TO WRITE ANOTHER, SIMILAR BOOK.

GLENDA SCARBOROUGH SMITH

PHOENIX, AZ

Indeed!

Not knowing George ‘in real life’ the way that Dave does, I can only say that his voice in Returning sounds exactly like his voice in here. He HAD to have lived these scenes to evoke them so clearly. You can almost smell the fusty headliner of the car he is ‘provided’.

George is the real deal, all right.

K. Crouch

6/1/2005

A definitive guide to the last romantic era.

George D. Schultz effectively spins a time-travel fantasy of romantic nostalgia, fact-riddled with information on history, sports, movies, music and automobiles (with a double helping of “schmaltz”). It’s an enjoyable, comfortable story for Big Band accompaniment or a quiet, rainy evening alone.

Shirley Suter

Grapeland, TX

5/30/2005

Review of Returning — Dave Schultz – 5/22/2005

I’m George D. Schultz’ eldest son Dave. On Saturday May 21, 2005 – I picked up and read Returning for the first time. I should start out by saying that I have bitten off more than I can chew in life – and have zero relaxation time available. Most of my reading is technical or business related, and the only time I have read for pleasure in the last fifteen years has been political books while on vacations. When I was younger, I loved mysteries – and read every E. S. Gardner and A. A. Fair I could get my hands on. The only novel I recall reading in the last 15 years was Mitchner’s Centennial.

I started reading this book in the hot tub at about 5PM Saturday and moved to my favorite chair in the bedroom at about 7PM. I continued to read until I started to doze (I had had three hours sleep the night before) at about midnight. On Sunday after Fox News Sunday – I sat in my chair again and read until about 2PM, when I moved to the pool to read the book. At 6PM, I took an hour and half to swim with my 6-year-old daughter, then a quick shower, and then back again to read in the bedroom chair. At about midnight, my eyes were getting blurry and with only 38 pages left – I had to put the book down. This morning, I finished the book.

This is one of the few books in my life that I could not put down – to the point that I had completely forgotten to watch the Sunday NASCAR race — rarely happens. The book kind of read like a combination of a Mystery (the ending was nothing as if I thought it would come out), a Romance (not my bag – but the plot kept up my interest through that), History (the life of entire reality family is 99.44% accurate), and Fantasy (the life of the man who goes back in time – and his life and times observing himself and his family 40 years earlier). It was a little hokey at times – but then again I assume it was the Romance trait of the book (which I am not accustom to reading) doing that.

On the historical side, most of those people, places, dates, and businesses exist as described. I knew exactly who all of the non-fantasy characters were. Kathleen was my mother, Jim – my father, Alice – Gloria; all of my brothers and sisters; my grandparents; my great-grandparents were people exactly as described. The homes were exactly as they were. Jim’s apartment in 1979 (when the story starts) was described to a T. I can assure you that the poverty of Jim’s reality family was a very hard reality. All of the places in the story had those events occur on reality side.

The book is a combination of reality with fantasy existing together in the same time and place. It is two parallel universes combined in a story. Without giving away what the books is really about – I can tell you this is not the standard “Time-Travel” book you have previously read or seen a movie of. It is not a Science-Fiction. The plot is well thought out and unique – maybe some of the Romance gets a little hooky for the guys – but you will have a hard time putting the book down until finished. When finished, you will says wow!

If you are from Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; or Brownsville, Texas — you might appreciate the nostalgia of those places in the book. If you are into the cars of the 30s, 40, and 50s — you will appreciate how prominently they figure in the book.

Anyone who knows me knows I give nobody a free pass. While I may be George’s son – every word above is exactly what I thought.