The Day Tripper

 

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.