Review by Booklist Review
In the summer of 1995, Alex enjoys the best day of his life. He's smitten with his first love, Holly, and has a bright future ahead of him. All is well until he runs into an old enemy. A tumble into the Thames River sends him 15 years into the future, where his life rests in shambles. He falls asleep only to wake up nine years later. Cursed to awaken in a different year every day, Alex searches for the disaster that spun him out of control. In doing so, he learns whether personal agency can outweigh fate. This is Goodhand's adult debut following two YA novels. The time-travel element of Alex's story offers a robust framework to examine how a young man shapes his destiny. The Day Tripper is a page-turner, even as it focuses on the mundanities of life: love, aging, the responsibilities of being a son and mentor. Empathetically told, with a bit of moralism, it offers a hopeful view of destiny and contemporary manhood.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
On September 6, 1995, Alex Dean is having a perfect day with his girlfriend Holly. He's 20 years old, a musician; he has a place at Cambridge, he's in love and full of spontaneity. Then a chance encounter leads to a violent altercation, and Alex nearly dies. The next day he wakes up, and it's 2010. He's older, he's in a strange flat, he has an alcohol addiction, and Holly is nowhere to be found. Just as Alex begins to piece things together, he falls asleep again, only to wake up nine years later to an even grimmer future in 2019. Alex is now living a nonlinear life. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as he visits different days at random. What happened with Holly? How did Alex's bright future disappear? As Alex learns more about himself while journeying through the days, he discovers he might be able to build a brighter future. VERDICT Goodhand's (Man Down) adult debut is a compelling look at the way decisions, good and bad, build up over time to create a life. Recommended for fans of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and readers who enjoy time-travel narratives.--Katie Lawrence
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
