Morton Cargill is pulled into the future by the descendent of a woman he killed in a drunk driving accident by the Inter-Time Society for Psychological Adjustment so that her descendent can see him die. Once he gets there, things quickly become more complicated as he gets caught up in the struggle between three factions, The Floaters, The Tweeners, and The Shadows. Each group wants him for a different nefarious purpose. Which cause will Cargill join and what is his mysterious connection to The Shadows?First of all, I should have liked this book more than I did. It features lots of concepts that I like: time travel, time paradoxes, and an underlying conspiracy. So why wasn't I a big fan? For one thing, the plot moves fairly slowly, strange considering the short length of the book. Secondly, Cargill isn't very likeable. Thirdly, none of the characters are very developed. It's very easy to forget which is which. The writing style isn't anything to write home about and the attitude toward women is straight out of 1954.
That isn't to say The Universe Maker is bad. It isn't. There are a lot of good ideas within and I loved the revelation of Grannis's identity. The ending was also good and bumped the rating up to 2.5 stars.
I suppose I'd be able to give it a three back when it was first written but a two is all The Universe Maker gets from me these days.