The Day Tripper

by James Goodhand

The right guy, the right place, the wrong time.

It’s 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames.

He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight.

After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river.

But what exactly is going on? Why does his life look nothing like he thought it would? What about Cambridge, and Holly? In this page-turning adventure, Alex must navigate his way through the years to learn that small actions have untold impact. And that might be all he needs to save the people he loves and, equally importantly, himself.

• ISBN10: 0778369641
• ISBN13: 9780778369646
• Publish Date: 19 March 2024 (first published 2 January 2024)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Mira Books
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Day Tripper is an inventive time-slip novel by James Goodhand. Released 19th March 2024 by HarperCollins on their Harlequin Trade/Mira imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out from the same publisher in late 1st quarter 2025. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

This is a well written time travel magical realism story with flashes of science fiction, which has accessible prose and a poignant plot. A traumatic injury sees MC Alex, whose life had been in an upward trajectory, slipping in and out of his life with the days completely out of order with no knowledge of what happened, or how he got there. It's an intriguing idea, but gets in its own way fairly often throughout. The pacing is deliberate, sometimes a bit ponderous, and the first few chapters will require a significant good faith effort on the reader's part. It does pay off, eventually.

It's not precisely derivative (not actionably anyhow), but fans of Montimore's Oona Out of Order will find parallels to that one here, as well. There are also some vibes from Haig's The Midnight Library. 

The unabridged audio format has a run time of 11 hours 14 minutes and is capably narrated by James Meunier. He has a classically trained, smooth, well modulated voice and handles the disparate voices of a range of ages and both sexes very well. Sound and production quality is high throughout the read.

Three and a half stars. Well written, undeniably competently so. Some pacing and setup issues in the first 20% of the book, and there's surprisingly little actual effort expended on world building, but the bones of a very good story, well told. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

[Jeff Sexton]

Interesting Spin On Time Travel. Straight up, this book won't be for everyone. It is *highly* disjointed and takes a *lot* of mental effort to follow... and that is kind of the point, with this particular bent on time travel. We experience the tale in the same way that Alex experiences his life - as singular days completely out of order, beginning on the day that starts it all. The particular reset mechanism, of waking up to a different day every time Alex falls asleep, brings to mind how Ted Dekker used the same concept to have his hero switch between the "real" world and Dekker's very blatantly allegorical world in his Circle Series. While that tale was far more linear - er, circular - this one actually works well for how it chooses to use the concept - but again, this particular storytelling style won't be for everyone, and honestly I'm genuinely surprised the ratings for this book in the ARC realm just days before publication is as high as it is, *because* it is such a tough storytelling mechanic.

 

But for those that can hang with the way the story is told, the story told is actually quite good, in the more typical time travel bent ala Time Traveler's Wife, The Family Man, A Christmas Carol, Its A Wonderful Life, etc etc etc. It just takes so much effort to follow the storytelling mechanism to see the story that I fear that many readers will abandon the tale too early to see just how good it actually is.

 

Oh, and because it *can* be so problematic for so many, it *does* need to be mentioned that there is on screen male on male sexual abuse, as well as quite a bit of alcoholism.  

 

Overall an interesting tale told using a unique mechanism I'd never seen before. Very much recommended.