The Lost Pulse picks up right after the close of the first book, with Camp David in shambles and the T1 team and President Stewart, formerly General Stewart of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recovering from their injuries and personal losses. On the heels of this bold terrorist attack, another attack occurs, this time at Guantanamo Bay, and the unnamed terrorists not only kill all of those stationed there, but release all of the detainees, including General Brooks and his lackey, Scott, who were sent there earlier as punishment by Stewart for abandoning the T1 team in ancient Jerusalem for 3 years. Although Stewart orders the teams not to go back in time to right this terrible wrong, because the families have already been notified and the news is already out, of course they go, if only to find out who the terrorists were. Naturally, someone goes off on their own vengeful agenda and a terrible loss is suffered, one that will haunt JJ forever and cause him great personal loss.
JJ's wife, Michelle, having been healed of her cancer while he was stuck in ancient Jerusalem, has decided to devote her life to "killing bad guys" just like her husband and T1 and T2, but she first wants to join the Army Rangers, then decides to move to Italy instead. There, she spends her time as a vigilante, protecting tourists from overly zealous street vendors and would-be attackers. Eventually, she sets her sites on the Catholic church, specifically those high-level priests who have molested children. As you can imagine, the higher up she goes, the worse things become, until BOTM (Black Ops Time Machine) is called in.
Meanwhile, President Stewart is dealing with not only regular terrorist attacks, but also the release of a damning audio recording that may implicate impropriety in his election. He decides to arm all of the citizens of America so that they can be the peacekeepers of their communities and urges the members of NATO to do the same in their countries, regardless of their current laws. Although he catches some flak, it does seem to work, so much so that he urges the Pope to hold Easter Mass at the Vatican, rather than encouraging people to hide in their homes due to potential terrorist attacks. Of course, Michelle is still doing her vigilante thing in Italy, so this makes things worse for JJ.
There are some new characters introduced and, of course, an insane BOTM mission, this time to space in order to stop an attack at the International Space Station, but mostly it's just JJ and company champing at the bit to "go kill some bad guys," with copious "Oorahs" thrown in for good measure. I am not a Marine, so I can't speak to personal experience, but it just doesn't seem like they'd say that constantly, because doing so would water down its effect. Further, the fact that JJ's only reasoning and drive in life is to "kill the bad guys" makes him seem pretty one-dimensional. There is some attempt to build up a romance or two, but they fizzle out and don't really stick, almost as if they were thrown in as an after-thought.
I was hoping that The Lost Pulse would be better than Found in Time, but it really isn't. I am not trying to dog someone who sets out to write a book, but sometimes a really good idea, like time-travel being used by the US military, needs more fleshing out. It needs an actual story with well-developed characters and world-building, not just a few good concepts, and I think that is what happened here. I really can't recommend either book, simply because both are just a series of interesting ideas that just aren't developed properly. Even the title, The Lost Pulse, doesn't exactly make sense as some of the original 12 pulses are damaged along the way through sabotage, but the title seems to imply that one gets lost along the way. Sorry, but for me The Lost Pulse is a pass.
