The Traveler

by Joseph Eckert

The Traveler is the story of a reluctant time-traveler and his son, and the bond between them that even millennia cannot break. An adventure full of heartbreak, hope, and futures beyond imagination.

It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling headlong down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell.

7:51am. Monday, April 13th.

A blink of an eye.

7:52am. Tuesday, April 14th.

An entire 24 hours, gone.

This one moment—this first spontaneous slip—marks a change in the course not only of Scott’s future, but that of the world. From this point on, at precisely 7:52am every morning, Scott inexplicably travels forward in time in ever-doubling intervals. First one day lost in a blink, then two, then four, until weeks, even years, are passing him by in an instant.

Meanwhile, his wife is left alone to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together, and, before long, Lyle, Scott’s genius seven-year-old son, will surpass him in age.

Because while his dad is rocketing forward in time, Lyle is growing up–graduating early, studying at Berkeley, becoming the foremost scholar of quantum physics, all in an attempt to bring his father back…

Meet an extraordinary father and son in this captivating, heart-wrenching speculative debut.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Dystopia

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2026

About the author

I am an avid reader and writer, author of The Traveler, published by Tor US and Tor UK in June 2026, with more countries to come!

I love stories in every medium, from novels to comics to movies to video games. I find it incredibly interesting to see how each medium has individual strengths and weaknesses for telling a compelling story.

Reviews

[Rebecca]

‘Would your life have had the same fullness of meaning, the same extraordinary potential, if I hadn't pulled you here, brought you forward? Would you ever have had a chance like this one, the chance to guide the hand of fate itself, to influence the lives of trillions that will come?’

It’s been ages since I’ve picked up a sci-fi novel, and now I’m wondering why I ever stopped.

The Traveler completely sucked me in from the first few chapters. The premise is brilliantly simple: every morning at the exact same time, Scott is thrown further into the future. First days, then weeks, then years, then decades. As concepts go, it’s fascinating. As a father/son story? Absolutely devastating.

What I loved most was that despite the time travel element, this never felt bogged down by complicated science. Instead, it focused on the people. The relationships. The moments that make up a life. Watching Scott witness his son’s entire future in fragmented glimpses was both beautiful and heartbreaking.

I flew through this one because I constantly needed to know what happened next. Every jump raised new questions, new challenges, and new emotional punches. Just when I thought I understood where the story was going, it surprised me.

The Traveler is a reminder that great sci-fi isn’t really about the science at all. It’s about exploring what it means to be human. Add in themes of family, hope, loss, and the relentless passage of time, and you’ve got a story that lingers long after the final page.

If you’re like me and haven’t picked up a sci-fi book in a while, this is a fantastic place to start. Just be prepared for an existential crisis or two along the way.

I Highly Recommend.

Thank you Pan Macmillan for my advanced readers copy.

Available Now!

[Sonya]

I really thought this book was going to be a great read. The synopsis sounded really interesting and I’m a huge time travel nerd! But unfortunately, that was not the case. I really had to force my way through this one.

The first 25% or so of the book was interesting, but once he traveled past the time when his son died it got so repetitive and boring. Every single jump was the same thing: confusion, meet someone from that time that explains things, be sad about Lyle, get new technology, and jump again.

I also felt like it didn’t know the main character at all even though the entire book is spent with him basically solo and it’s his POV. He felt like just a generic guy.

The world building for each jump was underwhelming. I just felt like the author could have done SO much more to make these time periods feel real and instead just did the bare minimum.

Also, it bothered me that one jump would be a destroyed world, then the next a utopia, then destroyed again… over and over. Was the author just trying to beat us over the head with the fact that humans (and AI/other species) will always have war and everything we do will destroy the planet?

I felt it was a bit of a cop-out that he kept getting technology that made it super easy for him to survive anything he encountered. It made every situation that could have been exciting super boring.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book and would not recommend it. It honestly was really depressing and boring. I’m being generous with my 2 star rating because I did like the beginning (it was probably like 3 stars), but the rest of the book was definitely a 1 star read.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and statements are my own.

[Karen’s Library]

Wow, this was an excellent time travel premise and it absolutely broke my brain, in the best way possible.

I love time travel books but they have to really wow me for me to be impressed. The Traveler did just that! And with Ray Porter narrating…? It doesn’t get better than that!

In The Traveler, Scott is driving to work in his car when he finds himself landing on the street, no car… He scrambles off the street and based on his phone texts and missed calls sees that 24 hours has passed. His family has frantically been trying to find him. At exactly 7:52 AM the next morning, he “slips” and 48 hours has passed. The next morning at 7:52 he slips again and 4 days have passed. He’s traveling forward in time but each day he experiences, double the time from the day before has passed for everyone else.

This was crazy and mind-blowing. Scott’s son Lyle is 7 when Scott’s time travel starts.

This story is really about father and son and the love they have for each other throughout the entire story.

Ray Porter brings the story to life and I felt every single emotion that Scott experiences because of Ray Porter. I was so completely invested in Scott and Kyle throughout.

The future world/s are something that in my wildest imagination I could never have comprehended but it all made perfect sense.

If you’re a fan of time travel, or Ray Porter, I highly recommend The Traveler!

*Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for the gifted ALC!*

[Oh, Hush! Reads]

5 stars.

The Traveler is my favorite book of the year, and it is not close.

Scott is driving to work when his car disappears and he wakes up twenty-four hours in the future. The next day, he jumps two days. Then four. Every jump doubles, while his wife and son keep aging without him.

That premise makes this almost impossible to put down. Every time Scott returns, you need to know what has changed, how much of his family’s life he missed, and what the world will look like next.

The first half has some of the emotional DNA of The Time Traveler’s Wife. The second half gets bigger, stranger, and more philosophical, digging into AI, religion, history, climate, and the way civilizations reshape the truth over time.

At its heart, though, this is a father-son story. Eckert understands science and technology, but he also understands empathy and compassion.

I could argue that this book needed another two hundred pages. If you know me, that’s pretty wild!

THIS is what the reading experience should feel like.

[Jo V]

I've always loved science fiction because it lets me experience worlds and ideas I'd never dream up on my own. When I read sci-fi, I'm not overly concerned with whether the science is accurate or not. If an author tells me there are two-headed aliens with purple limbs, I'm happy to roll with it. I don't need an in-depth explanation of how they evolved or whether they could actually exist.

So this book being light on the science behind why the main character was jumping into the future every day - with each jump lasting twice as long as the previous one - didn't bother me in the slightest. I loved the premise and was completely invested for the first 30 - 40% of the book. I really wanted to know why it was happening and honestly didn't care much about the how.

Unfortunately, as the story progressed however, the time jumps became repetitive and not a great deal actually happened. The glimpses of future civilisations felt surprisingly underdeveloped, and Scott always seemed to conveniently stumble across someone or something that could help him. By the end, he had practically become a super human, and I found myself thinking, "Okaaaay..."

Another part that really frustrated me was Scott's wife. I understand the author wanted to move her out of the picture so the story could focus on the relationship between father and son, but the reasoning just didn't work for me. She leaves Scott because she can't cope with him disappearing for days, then weeks and then months at a time. Her justification is that her own father constantly abandoned the family, going off on drinking binges and returning whenever he felt like it.

The problem is those two situations aren't even remotely the same. Her father was a deadbeat loser and chose to leave. Scott had absolutely no control over what was happening to him. Yes, it would be an incredibly difficult situation to live through, but to leave him because of it - and then keep his son away from him as well - just felt incredibly unfair. I couldn't sympathise with her at all and thought her reasoning was really stupid.

And the ending. Oh my.

Even though my interest had faded as the book went on, I kept reading because I wanted answers. Why was this happening? Who was responsible? What was the purpose behind it all?

The payoff was incredibly underwhelming. An omnipotent being was collecting species from the current universe to seed a brand-new one. That wasn't remotely where I expected the story to go, and it just didn't make sense to me. Why preserve the species from the old universe? Why carry their ideas and cultures into the next one? The book never really explains that motivation.

I've already said I don't need every piece of science explained, but I do need the "why" behind the story's biggest revelation.

In the end, I think the novel took itself a little too seriously. It wanted to be a deep philosophical exploration, sprinkled with religious themes, but it never seemed sure of what it actually wanted to say. That's what disappointed me the most. The premise was fantastic and had all the ingredients to become an unforgettable science fiction novel. Instead, it slowly lost its momentum, and by the end I was just underwhelmed by it all.

It's not a bad book because I did enjoy it initially and others obviously enjoyed it more than I did what with all the 5 star reviews - for me it just never lived up to the incredible potential it started with. And honestly, that's what gutted me the most.

[David Mc]

The “Traveler” starts off like an unexpected hiccup, as Scott Treder finds himself thrown ahead in time each new day at exactly 7:57. Since these uncontrollable leaps forward double in length each day, this solidly middle class protagonist eventually finds himself thrust millions of years into the future. As he leaves behind a loving wife and is unable to watch his near-genius son grow to manhood, one can’t help but feel some degree of sympathy towards this reluctant time traveler. In any event, over the course of his travels, Scott witnesses massive advancements and unparalleled beauty, as well as death, war, and destruction as he dips in and out of human history.

Although I initially enjoyed the time travel concept of this novel, my interest began to wane a little before the halfway mark….when the story became more of a science fiction treatise on future technology. Even more disappointing, the vapid ending seemed like a foggy mishmash of ideas with no clear explanation for the complete upending of Scott’s life. Thus, in contrast to the stellar reviews for this novel, I rated it at an even 2-stars.

[Desiree Reads]

An interesting concept about slipping through time in increasing (doubling) increments.

I like the first half better, where the jumps were less significant timeframes, and Scott was dealing with the real effects of these jumps affecting his life.

The later jumps, of thousands of years, were a bit hard to relate to on a personal level with the character, but the “new” settings were interesting. I did find the conclusion satisfying, however, so the book ended well.

I had a couple of frustrations with the main character, but I suppose they weren’t too serious. I would have like to see him have a little more backbone, though.

Overall, recommended, especially for sci fi fans.

-Desiree Reads
April 12, 2026

[Jen]

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

What a fascinating read this was! I was totally captivated by this story. We meet a man who finds himself driving along when suddenly he’s bruised and bumped on the side of the road. His job is angry, his wife is panicking, his son is worried as he had disappeared for a full 24 hours. It happens again, only this time the length of time he’s gone for doubles. He’s concerned, confused as seeks help from scientists. We see the emotional impact on his family. For him, he has no sense of the loss of time, things warp and then he’s back. But his family lose him for longer and longer periods each time, having to deal with his absence and loss of his income.

A core part of this story is family, and the unwavering bond between the man and his son. Though he ultimately becomes younger than his son, his son never gives up hope that he’ll find a way to help his father, dedicating his life and career to finding a way to understand the time jumps. It’s a beautiful bond and the thing that gives the main character Scott hope throughout his discombobulating jumps into the future.

The jumps get bigger and so do the changes, with Scott in peril regularly and having to quickly adjust to the changes of each time. Some of which are poignant or even devastating.

I found this novel so profound, so fascinating. I’d highly recommend it and I would read it again. What a unique and innovative exploration.

[Zoë]

This was a fun time travel story with questions around identity, the self, and the unconditional love between a son and father. Somewhat heartbreaking, and an ending that felt interesting but not unexpected. Solid speculative fiction of the future and a thought experiment.

[Andrew Smith]

I love time travel tales. They offer unlimited possibilities, they’re where real adventure lies for me. True, there are a general set of paradoxes that often re-occur, but nonetheless I believe that the options on offer from this category of speculative fiction are wider than just about any other form. And this novel, I think, surpasses all others I’ve read in terms of its inventiveness.

I’ll keep my synopsis of the plot super thin, because I really don’t want to give too much away. A man is driving to work one day and suddenly finds himself sliding down the road sans car. Battered and bruised, he is to discover that a day has passed since his recollection of that interrupted trip to work. Where did that day go? The next day, at precisely the same time, a similar event occurs but this time he’s skipped two days. Will this pattern continue? What’s causing it? How will this play out?

Brilliantly imagined, it’s a story of love, loss and discovery. I absolutely loved it!

[Jane]

Please note: reading this review may spoil the book for you.

The first third or so of The Traveler was good. A man suddenly starts jumping to the future every day at the same time. First, he jumps one day. Then two. Then four. Then eight. He ages one day at a time, while his wife and child grow old, then older, then die. His wife can’t take the strain and leaves him. His child devotes his life to saving his father. Scott is helpless – although scientists study him, no one can figure out why the jumps are happening or stop them.

Then, we are treated to the author’s very dim view of the future on Earth. Most of the jumps – increasingly longer in time – are to horrible futures. A month has passed for Scott and he is millions of years into the future. (Annoyed note: An artificial intelligence with him can’t calculate the exact year – why not, exactly?) Scott had two good childhood friends he continually thinks about but who ultimately play the role of a Chekhov’s gun that is never taken down from the wall. Scott himself isn’t interesting, his son isn’t interesting, the increasing fascination with AI isn’t interesting.

The last 60 pages especially are an exercise in boredom. Nothing remarkable happens, and the jumps come quickly. The Traveler didn’t make me think about the existence of time, or what will happen on Earth millions of years in the future, or the nature of love, or whether or not there is a God. The beginning was intriguing, but The Traveler ultimately thudded to its conclusion.

Your reading experience may differ.

I read an advance reader copy of The Traveler from Netgalley.

[Shannon Miz]

4.5*

Phew, Traveler packed a punch! This book had me whole-ass sobbing by 10% in, and kept the feels coming throughout. I don’t want to give too much away, because I think this is one you’ll definitely want to experience firsthand, but the basic premise is that every morning, MC Scott travels forward in doubling intervals of time. So at first, it’s just a day or two, frustrating (and confusing and upsetting) him and his wife and son. But if you know anything about math, the doubling is going to get bonkers, and fast.

The whole story was incredibly heartfelt, and so very thought provoking. There are moments of levity to keep it from being too devastating, but make no mistake, it will tug at your heartstrings over and over. There is a lot to appreciate in this story, from the bonds between father and son, the difficulty Scott has coming to terms with his plight, the implications for humanity, and the imagined futures the author posits. Truly, worth the read.

[Ellen]

Time travel, sci-fi, TV-style, plot driven

This one started out promising, but the fact that he was doubling the amount of time he jumped became a huge problem when the time got to hundreds or thousands of years into the future. There was no time to world build, and because the time between the jumps was only 24 hours, which really made it hard to grasp what was happening during each jump. I think this could have worked as an extended series where each book covered a few jumps, and I think it would translate well to television because you have so much more visual representation that can be accomplished with minimal time and explanation (although probably a lot of money). I didn't love the whole god/consciousness aspect at the end either, but honestly I was so disinvested by the last 60-ish pages that I was mostly skimming.

[Sarah]

This story was way too drawn out for very little payout at the end. The first half was awesome, and that's where it should have ended.

[Aiden Asport]

I want to thank NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, Joseph Eckert, and all involved in providing me with an Advanced Listening Copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review. The opinions here are my own and may differ from others.

I went back and forth on whether to give this book a one star or two. I'd say 1.5 is probably the most accurate. I really wanted to like this book, but I barely enjoyed it. I am not a fan of DNFing titles and will avoid it if possible, however, this book was so difficult to get through, and I am surprised I made it to the end. I struggled hard.

The premise of the book had potential, the description promised so much, and I actually thought it was a very unique story. The problem I had was it got too repetitive, too fast. It would have done well as a short novella and nothing near the 400 pages/over 12 hours of listening time. A lot of the plot wasn't necessary and after the first maybe 30% of the book, it all went downhill.

In the beginning, I was shocked, intrigued, and engulfed in the story. The way Scott starts his time hop was fantastic, full of thrill and chaos. I felt so bad for him in the first two jumps, constantly yelling "why?!" in full support of his character and the injustice he was facing. By the time one more jump happened, I was starting to lose interest. It is redundant and exhausting how many times the same thing happens. I felt zero emotions for any of the characters by 60% and there was no connection or true characterization that was memorable or needed.

The only reason I forced myself through was to see where it all went, how it all wrapped up in the end. I was so curious and felt a pull to the climax and resolution...which never came. With such potential in a unique storyline, it just fell flat and disappointed on all marks in the end. It was all for nothing, no reasons, no purpose, no overall theme. I mean, I guess there is a message about technology and time, but it was so pushed that I didn't care. I hope someone tries this whole concept again but takes more time with purpose and plot, especially story elements to keep readers on a good pace and motivation.

I like to devour books, losing myself in a story, and feeling compelled to get through it because it is just so good. This book did not do that for me.

I finished it, would probably not recommend it but I am sure there are people who will enjoy it for their own reasons. For me, I say, skip it.

[Krysti Kois]

As soon as I read the premise for this book, I knew that I wanted to read it ASAP. Instead of your stereotypical time traveling where you go forth and end up wherever, this story has our main character blip out of existence and reappear exactly where he left from. If he happens to blip out while he is in say, a car, traveling at a speed greater than zero, when he instantaneously (to him) blips back in, he would be in that same position as if he was in a car, just without the car, further ahead in time. Bouncing, flailing, scraping across the road. The car from before his blip, carries on without him, eventually crashing into some parked cars. The thing that pulls you along through this story is the exponential time that disappears every time he makes a jump. The first time was 24 hours, the second, 48 hours, etc. The time jumps happening at the exact time every day, 7:51am.

The first half of the book was exciting, suspenseful and original. You had the anguish of his family trying to exist without him, questions of the unknown entity that was pulling him along the timeline and unexpected consequences of his time traveling. The author had some interesting visions of what some possible futures might entail and it was an engaging read. Then we got to the back half. It felt both rushed and at the same time, you wanted answers and just wanted to get to the point. Why did our MMC have to go through all this anguish? Why did he have to sacrifice his life? Was there a point to all of it? I was kind of let down at the end. There was this whole build up and at the end, ugh. It's still three stars, for the most part, it was a very good story and a stand alone. No cliffhanger. No sequels. I want to thank NetGalley and the author for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

[Janine]

3.5 Interesting sci-fi but the time travel is not made up of long lasting episodes. It's short 24 hour periods alternating between good and bad scenarios. The ending could have been better.

[Tony Garcia]

The Traveler made me feel so small and insignificant in a powerful and transcendent way. It was sad and peaceful. We are the tiniest of sparks in time. I will never forget this book.

[Chuck Jones]

This was a tough read, but not because it was bad or the writing was off or anything. It was the subject matter and how these grandiose ideas were presented that really made you think; that made this read a bit of a hard one to swallow.

This novel is certainly more of a hard-science fiction novel for me: there are a lot of very scientific, futuristic, technical topics/ideas/gadgets/themes presented throughout this novel during Scott's various stops through time, and at times, things got a little convoluted for me.

Although I liked the emotional impact the novel made in the first portion of the novel, I have to say the later parts of the novel lost a bit of momentum for me. I liked some of the things Scott encountered and the speculative nature of what the world would look like thousands of years from now, but the story started to drag a bit for me. It didn't ever get boring or anything, but at times I felt that the author had an idea for something, and it just wasn't as thoroughly fleshed out as it maybe needed to be given the time constraints of the jumps.

I also, unfortunately, thought the ending was a bit Meh. It both did and did not make sense to me; it just didn't really feel like an ending. It also felt a bit like the author wasn't quite sure how to end things either. I don't know, just not the greatest, at least for me.

[JS]

This is my favorite release of 2026 so far. It’s a fairly straightforward story of a guy who begins jumping forward in time, doubling each day. It’s really about fathers and sons. And I would say that it’s more about a child’s love for their father than vice versa. Even though it’s told from the POV of the father. As a father of three great boys and the son of an amazing dad, this one got to me. The story itself was compelling and super readable and the emotional punch of the father and son were enough to keep me thinking about the book even when I wasn’t reading it and I assume I’ll keep thinking about it for a long time to come

[Dany ( danythebookworm_ )]

Some books entertain you. Some books make you think. And then there are the rare ones that do both.

The Traveler by Joseph Eckert was one of those books for me.

Every day at the exact same time, Scott is pulled further into the future. What begins as jumps of days soon becomes years, decades, and eventually far beyond anything he could have imagined. With each leap, he loses pieces of the life he left behind while uncovering the future of humanity.

I went in expecting a clever time-travel story, but what I found was something far more memorable. Beneath the sci-fi lies a powerful story about family, love, sacrifice, hope, and the passage of time. Scott’s journey had me completely invested, and I couldn’t stop reading because every jump revealed something unexpected.

The best science fiction asks big questions while making you care deeply about its characters, and The Traveler does exactly that. It reignited my love for the genre and is a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An unforgettable read that I highly recommend!

[Ellen]

A time travel novel like no other and it sure was action packed!

[Joachim Stoop]

5 stars for a 4 star book. Yet this anomaly is a lot less weird than the premisse of this SF-novel itself.

No, it was not flawless at all, but who cares when I felt so compelled and intrigued by it.

More than The Martian it deserves a wider audience ánd a movie adaptation. Luckily Eckert stayed far away from the goofball, juvenile, silly protagonist Andy Weir gave us.

[Stella Gilman]

Scott is an ordinary person, with an ordinary job, an ordinary family and just an ordinary day. But as he drives into work one day, he is just sitting in his car and then the next thing he knows is he lands on the hard ground. He has lots of missed calls from his wife and his work. He looks at the time and date and it is 24 hours since he was driving to work, but he has no memories of what happened during that time. The next day it happens again, but for twice as long. It soon becomes a pattern and he disappears for twice as long as the time before. Scott looses his family, his job, essentially his life. He continues on to see where this journey is going to take him.

4.5 stars!! I’m not a huge fan of sci fi, but this book was amazing! I absolutely loved it!! Definitely recommend to anyone!!

[Deanne]

Two things would have made this a five star read… Darrow, Carl, Donut, Ryland and Rocky

[Rubii]

4.5! I love time travel books but I can’t think of the last time I read one with a really unique spin on it like this one. I read this is 24 hours and really enjoyed. I never really knew what was going to happen next in the best way.

[Katrin]

A cosmic joke to pick a guy with zero interest in the world around him to travel exponentially further into the future and the future and the future… it took him almost a month of his own time and an ai consciousness of his own son to show a resigning, begrudging crumb of interest in the world around him and even then it was mostly too late to observe any sort of cool societal structures or technological advancements. Having basically no time to grieve as he was traveling further and further away from the life as he knew it the mc just sort of stumbles through millennia after millennia with occasional technological help from civilization forced to watch as it self destructs over and over again. And no technological advancement brought him and answers as to why. What a depressing concept!

Im still not sure if I liked the book but it was something… Almost wish there was a version from the pov of people who spent decades studying his phenomena and getting ready to meet and greet him at his show up times…Anyway.

[Jennifer Wurges byrnes]

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the eARC for review.

The only thing I knew about this book going in was that it was about time travel, one of my favorite tropes. Scott Treder is driving to work one day when his car disappears out from under him and he rolls to the curb. When he goes home he discovers that one whole day has passed from the time he was ejected from the car. Scott doesn't know what happened and neither does anyone else - everyone thinks he just chose to play hooky for a day. But then the next day at the same time he disappears again. And reappears. This time two days have passed. Scott soon figures out that every time he jumps time it doubles. The slow realization that he will lose weeks, then months, then years of his life and his seven-year-old son Lyle's life, makes him panic. He desperately wants to find a way to stop it and goes to great lengths to try to find a solution.

The Traveler is framed as a father/son journey through time, and the description is not wrong. But what actually happens is much different than what I thought would happen. Lyle grows up and spends his life finding a solution to stop the time jumps, much to Scott's dismay, who wants Lyle to simply live his life and forget about him. But Lyle can't.

This book jumps hundreds and thousands of years into the future and Scott is witness to all of humanity's wars and innovations - the destruction of and reinvention of society. I thought it was interesting to see what Eckert's vision of the future of Earth is, and I liked following Scott's character as everything changes around him yet he stays the same.

What surprised me about the book was that Eckert gets deep near the end, philosophizing about what or who is responsible for pulling Scott through time. I won't give anything away but it was not what I thought, which I truly enjoyed.

Great characters, interesting plot that made you think at the end.

4 stars

[Kritika Khanna]

2 ⭐️🎧
I really liked the beginning because it immediately hooked me. I was genuinely invested in figuring out what was happening and I kept coming up with my own theories—I even wondered if he was in a coma or on drugs.

After so many jumps between timelines and perspectives, I started losing interest. Instead of building suspense, it began to feel repetitive and dragged on for far too long.

When the truth was finally revealed, the explanation felt pretty lacklustre and didn't live up to all the buildup.

I finished it because I wanted answers, but overall it was pretty meh for me.

[Twainy]

I need to review this! YESSS! I LOVED IT!

July 25, 2026 edit -

The Traveler by Joseph Eckert

I am a sucker for this type of book! LOVED IT!

Every morning our MC jumps forward in time. His jumps double the time into the future every day. Ten minutes, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 etc. Very quickly he’s unbelievably far into the future with no hope of returning.

Scott’s son Lyle dedicates his entire life to quantum physics with the hope he’ll find a way to pull his dad back to him.

Unpacking my thoughts:

* Once I got a feel for what was happening (along with the characters in the book) I was 100% in it for the ride! This is the first time travel book I’ve come across with this twist.

* This book pulled me in with the drama of the people left behind. His wife, son? It’s a heart breaker!

* Ray Porter narrates this story perfectly. Chef’s kiss! 💋

Due to the time between jumps multiplying crazy fast, the book speeds along & way further into the future than I would have expected creating a pleasant surprise for me!!

I’m still thinking about it months after listening to it.

Thank you Macmillan Audio & NetGalley. This was a fantastic story!