The Traveler

by Joseph Eckert

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

This program is read by award-winning narrator Ray Porter.

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 head-long 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 to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together alone, 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.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

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

15 pages, Audible Audio

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘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!

[Karen’s Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!*

[Sonya · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Oh, Hush! Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Shannon Miz · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Krysti Kois · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Chuck Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Dany ( danythebookworm_ ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Stella Gilman · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Rubii · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jennifer Wurges byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Jo V · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Ann Myhre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Traveler er tids-reiseren/ektemannen/faren Scott. Det starter med at han reiser én dag, så to dager, så fire dager, så åtte dager ... til flere tusen år av gangen, mens menneskeligheten går sin vei. Menneskeligheten som vi kjenner den fra 2026. Det eneste som forandrer seg er teknikken.

Fortellinga og premisset er godt tenkt ut, og det er egentlig aldri kjedelig. Boka er overraskende underholdende og spennende, forfatteren introduserer hjelpemidler underveis som heldigvis er fornuftige innafor universet han har laget. Og det ulogiske og umulige. I den grad Scott har noe valg og uten sammenligning for øvrig, litt som Cormac McCarthy teorier om at det ikke fins alternative virkeligheter, vi er våre valg. Det fins bare én virkelighet.

Boka anbefales til alle som liker sci-fi. Ikke så god som Andy Weir, bedre enn James S.A. Corey.

Lytta til som lydbok, kjøpt på britiske Audible.

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was incredibly entertaining and the themes of love, family, and community worked for me. I do think the beginning and end were a bit better than the middle though. The middle was a lot of Scott meeting someone from the present day, getting a crazy technology that will allow him to keep surviving, then repeating until there was nobody left. But the first third and last third were excellent, and I had to keep reading to know what was next.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was super intrigued in the beginning but tbh couldn’t wait for it to be over in the second half. Ending didn’t feel worth it. But 3 starts for a unique plot, fun physics, and a father-son saga.

[Silvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il concept è davvero interessante e la storia parte molto bene, la prima metà si legge che è una meraviglia. Andando avanti, però, le situazioni cominciano a farsi un po' ripetitive e le questioni sollevate vengono per la maggior parte liquidate in fretta e solo in modo superficiale (avrei voluto sapere qualcosa di più sulla finta religione, sul rapporto tra Scott e suo padre o quello con le sue vecchie amiche). Una volta che la narrazione si allontana dal nostro presente, vedere una sfilza di futuri sempre più lontani è interessanre solo fino a un certo punto: ogni scenario è inverosimile quanto gli altri e poco aggiunge. La lettura è comunque piacevole e stimolante, ho alternato una valutazione tra le tre e le quattro stelle per buona parte del tempo; alla fine ho optato per tre perché il finale, seppure curioso, mi è sembrato spiegato male e poco soddisfacente.
Alla fine di tutto, ciò che resta è principalmente il dispiacere per la normale vita perduta di Scott e una vaga angoscia esistenziale di fronte alla vastità dell'universo.

[Tony Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Katherine Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Too precise to be random.” Surprisingly heartfelt and introspective for science fiction, this novel follows a man who inexplicably begins traveling exponentially forward in time. While exploring themes of impermanence, resilience, the inevitability of self-destruction, and the cyclical nature of evolution, this book offers one possible explanation to answer the questions of why we’re here and what this life is meant for.

[diamond · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first half hope baited me. can't lie, it had me there for a second and then Lyle died and I was just as lost as the plot.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, great concept and better book. Almost as if you go through the same transformation that the Traveler does. “The rest of us must find our own courage and tenacity, to find – to create – meaning in our own lives.”

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Soumow · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ I couldn’t put this book down! Once I started listening I couldn’t stop. I love time travel, and i love when an ordinary person is having something special and we don’t know what is happening. The first half of the book was a page turner, I felt every emotion I lived every jump. The second half felt more philosophical which was ok and also felt more hard sci-fi which i love 🙏🏻
The ending was satisfying but not explosive that’s why it’s a 4.75 ⭐️ not a 5⭐️. I highly recommend this book for every science fiction fan 🚀

[Squirrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ahh, it starts so promising, intriguing, begging the reader to consider, 'how would I act in this situation? How would my partner, my friends ...?"

But it devolves from a science fiction start through trite, stupid, plot points to first apocalyptic war vignettes into a blatant and overworked Christian pondering.

Truly sorry this book didn't stop at about 250 pages, as a provocative SF book, and move the rest into its own little fantasy tale.

Instead, this plays every sloppy trope, including conversations with The Creator, Messiahs/False Messiahs/Who Little 'ol Me Messiahs, and worst of all, the 'aww, no one really dies, look, here they are again' - but only the people you like and want to see again. Peppered with tasteless Jesus jokes, the type normally saved for late-night beer-buzz snickers. Combined with a disturbing fixation of father-son on each other, for literally centuries (remember that 'no one really die-dies here.)

Major issues are revealed but never confronted. The failure for the son to move on is a major neurosis, 'special circumstances' notwithstanding. 90 years fixated on 'saving' a person he sees maybe 5 times in 90 years, after he turns 7? At some point, wouldn't someone, like his devoted mother Amy, mention that the son is mortgaging his own life for a pipe dream - selling out the supposed 'prize' in the process?

The son, Lyle, exposes his father to mortal dangers for his own glory, repeatedly. Should be a great theme to explore, but each incident is only mentioned, then dropped. "I had to name you to publish." "I had to share the data and your images to publish - and it worked! I became known world-wide." "I wrote a religious treatise putting you as a Messiah to 'protect' you." Then sure, the local Marines are sent to protect and retrieve MC, but they UNDERESTIMATED a KNOWN adversary? Not ONE Marine knew to gather intelligence? 'We didn't think they'd ... '

The naivete, the lack of any recognition of reality by all the characters, is just not credible. Apparently in this world, no one knows what happens to celebrities. The hounding, permanent lack of privacy, the crazies that come out, are all a surprise to the MC, and to the PhD Emeritus that offers to help him. The retired PhD who doesn't include the university attorneys or have NDAs signed, or people vetted, before PROVING the most amazing thing she's ever encountered. Because ... major universities don't care about copyrights or stolen research? Her ENTIRE career this has never come up, once?

Despite ALL the books that have postulated time travel, not ONCE does the son prepare a quick summary of changes to hand the MC when he reappears. AI can do that now in a few seconds, but neither computer-programmer father nor physics PhD son think of that, ever. They don't even hand MC a burner phone when he reappears.

MC is going to reappear for 24 hours, in increasing (doubling) time delays. Its impossible to forget that son and wife have 2 weeks, then 4 weeks, then ... 22 YEARS (etc.) to think about how to use that 24 hours best. What MC might need, what they need ... Yet they don't have, say, food ready, a change of clothes, a write-up of important info. And it's 'heartbreaking' EVERY time. For the MC, sure, its just a few days. But for the family, its a lifetime with just a few visits. Its getting to see a favorite relative twice more in your life, after they've (effectively, for you) died. And the best they come up with is a lifetime of screaming 'noooo!' They don't need physics, they need psychiatry.

------

July 2026 revisit ... was this just bad timing? Was the book really this annoying? Try the online version ... it is a great idea, such a cool start ... (Imagine - I'm driving along, my car disappears, and I'm still going 20-30 mph, of course losing the posture-definition of my body shape, because my muscles were dealing with support that's no longer there. And all I do about this is ... stay home for a day? Not PICK UP THE PHONE and call the smartest person I know, right off?

Then I disappear again a day later. Oh no! I'm going to be here and gone for a day over and over? But no, it's two days later. WHAT?! Still calling the smartest person I know. I'd look online for any similar weirdnesses, world-wide. Okay, still need sleep, fine. And still there next day, no problem. Okay, well, that was odd. Call work, tell them I'm having a breakdown, whatever. Stay home a couple of days.
Then it happens again two days later!? For four days? "Houston, we have a problem". In fact, I'd be calling LLP or UNV, or any place I could think of with a theoretical physics focus. ANY place - this isn't a 'cool experiment', this is my life. I'd also call a lawyer and get NDAs written up with massive outcomes for breach. Not wanting to be a government captive, or a media focus. Maybe on the other hand, call a PR genius (find one via the web), and control the information? Let the scientists come to me? After all, its happening, I didn't do anything to make it happen. Maybe its not just me - maybe its some quantum lab experiment gone wrong?
...well, that's the fun of a book like this. Thinking, "what would I do in that situation?" and realizing the character can't 'read the book twice' and doesn't know what's coming, because supposedly it a real life and not a book.

But this seems to be an excuse more to present a dysfunctional family than the physics glitch that is the conceit of the book. Their communication and trust is SO lame, so weak; the child is the only rational character. Heavens, the MC finds a WITNESS and doesn't even get his name? Imagine its your loved, trusted spouse/partner/family member. Wouldn't you take ANY time to go find proof? A doorbell camera, a police report, time stamps of computer activity, track when the phone pops in and out of cell towers? Does the AUTHOR not know about any of this, is that the failure here?

Anyone would be freaked, but what a chance, to look into this! Hire a PI or personally babysit the guy, put a tracker on him after the 2nd event for crying out loud. But no, let's just have hysterical family fights instead.

And the whole "I asked a friend who's a doctor" ... "who sold the story" ... WOW. A Professor Emeritus who doesn't understand proprietary research, who has no biology contacts at the university she retired from? In her whole career, she's NEVER seen research stolen? So WHAT 'University' is this supposed to be, where they TENURE people who don't know how to even protect their own research? She doesn't know her 'friend' well enough to know his lack of ethics, but trusts him with THIS? That's not Murphy's Law, that's gross incompetence.

Then, the easiest way to deal with the press - look at them as if they're insane. "Am I what? Are you nuts? Sure, watch me, I'll travel in time right now." (Look at watch, wait 30 seconds.) "See? I'm 30 seconds in the future. Oh look, you are too!" 'What about that video?' "What video?" blah blah "Sounds impressive. Do you broadcast UFO "videos" too?"

Cripes, decades of politicians publicly denying proven violations, and this guy can't even suggest they've been played? "If I 'time traveled' I sure didn't get very far, did I? Now move away, I'm leaving. I'm not a public figure, I'm not news, if you harass me or my family again I'll call the police. Now clear off, stop harassing us, I'm driving whether or not you're in the path. You got that on film, right? Good!"

Reporters ask - "Are you claiming you're the first time traveler?" Easy answer: "Hell no. Are you daft? Did I call you?" and "Do you know anything about relativity? The guys in the space station, astronauts are mini time travelers. Look it up." "Is this a hoax?" "How should I know?" "What are you running from?" Easy answer: "Rabid people shoving equipment in my face when I'm trying to simply leave my house. Shouting nonsense questions and accusatory blather, because someone else claims something? Where is your dedication when there's a child missing? Why aren't you canvassing neighborhoods when there's a shooter? What is wrong with YOU? Go find something DECENT to report on. And try to be RATIONAL - have you no critical thinking ability?"

Oh, the wife, desperate for a daddy replacement. MC married her without an ounce of therapy. They're both losers. Is it credible the kid is a genius and also insightful into interpersonal relationships, but his 'flaw' is selling out his dad for his professional gain? They're all repulsive. The reader all too quickly wants to be just done with them.

The kid brings his father to his dorm for the night. His "roommate is gone for the summer," "the bunk smells like feet". He didn't wash the sheets? For the whole summer? That's how his mother and grandmother raised him? He's been expecting his father for YEARS. He's an adult, he has a car - he didn't buy disinfectant? It's putrid - the kid can't even manage basic life skills in a dorm room?

Ah, the kid. Marries a reporter. Wow, the hounding by the press didn't put him off the profession, didn't help 'Mr. Perceptive' see through such manipulation? The hardest thing to ignore is how much hate and disdain the author must harbor, to form the characters as presented.

Oh, the kid.

I sold you out. Otherwise it would've been just another mental exercise that's impossible to prove."

Still not buying it. Einstein is famous for 'gedankenexperiement'. Those couldn't be 'proved' either when he came up with them. But, oh look! Later, and IN HIS LIFETIME, they were proven. With Atomic Clocks, with physical experiments, during space travel. Gosh. Ditto Quantum Mechanics. But a physicist who came AFTER doesn't respect that? Yet somehow got a rare university posting anyway...

And the geniuses, planning for a 22-year wait, do they setup a protected space? Do they ... rent a secure storage unit, or a stable lab? Nah, they pick an open-air quad. What MORONS. Did dear old MC have zero investments when this started? 33 years in a mutual fund (alone) would have left him a hefty nest egg. They could buy an apartment, or a house. But that's too reasonable for this pulp ... if it's even good enough to be called pulp.

Readers deserve better than this sloppy, lazy treatment.

The leaps through time ... offer nothing new. Barbarism, Universal-peace neuro-implants, utopia, even a green Los Angeles. An inside-out version of Planet of the Apes, complete with torture, new languages, and conveniently everyone speaks the MC's language, healing magic one day fixes EVERY injury from the previous 'day', but mechanized wars somehow took out EVERY detail of history, e.g. what the big letters on that hill near LA spelled out? You know, the Hollywood sign that's been an icon for a century already.

The efforts come across as pandering, and trite. Like the author is fishing - 'Is this what readers want? What about this? Oh, wouldn't this make a cool movie CGI scene?' The reader feels like a conscripted test audience. The 'future' scenes are just sketches with various creepy aspects. The ancestor who has amazing tech but 'needs your help!', the brutal thugs, the too-perfect but-not-hero-worshiping! university staff, the museum with the MC in it, the quantum continuation of the son dead for millennia... Which does address the writing problem of landing the MC in times when there is no one to meet or interact with. Hard to believe the MC actually survives, when he doesn't exhibit the simple life skills of a ten-year-old. Quick! There's layers of ash EVERYWHERE, no signs of life, and a huge monstrous flying machine overhead. Let's shine a light and walk around in plain sight! Going back, completely not buying that Anjari's tech could heal a broken nose, ribs, dead nerves, and massive burns in one day, but they 'threw away' the high-tech military 'skin' because they couldn't risk germs. After bringing the WEARER into her car AND the university hospital. Really, they can do all that but not sterilize apparel? And what was the point of that detail, for real? (And why in the world wasn't that militarized suit equipped with passive solar or kinetic charging? We have that technology NOW.

Ahh, the neuro-implants. Okay, they've known this Traveler is coming and when for centuries. They have neuro implants, but didn't make even a headset for this guy? They can do successful brain surgery but can't make an external interface?

While the 'why are we here' theme has a nice answer in this tale, it is pounded on in almost every time jump. We are here to witness, to experience, to be. Great. To be beaten to a pulp, to witness devastating war, to witness great achievements only to see them destroyed. And to have an annoying dead person natter on in our ear. And to explain the same things over and over to satisfy every new person's curiosity, and help further their professional careers.

Worst of all, the author makes the MC look like a ninny. He's supposed to have been a programmer, a computer professional, but he's having 'trouble' understanding the Overmind? He needs to ask for its credentials? What, he can't extrapolate based on the tech around him? And the "post-human cat adapt"? That was the BEST the author could manage? It's a DIRECT ripoff of the BBC's Red Dwarf, just pathetic. And apologizing for taking the time of the Overmind - this MC has NO clue about processing power - even in his own time, that exchange would have been a pointless waste of time, 'manners'? Manners for a cyber-being is to ask specific, direct, clear questions, not to dither.

There are plenty of extrapolations in tech and medicine from this, but the imagination is not stretched even a bit by them. Beyond stealing directly from others' cultural icons - Red Dwarf, Avatar, Independence Day - there is no unique creativity. So humans can alter themselves in the future, and have an entire space civilization in orbit around the earth, but ... they don't alter themselves to thrive in their chosen environments? They build space cars instead of giving themselves the ability to float or fly or rise, to store oxygen or process the available resources where they want to live? They have security suits instead of simply toughening their own skin, providing reflexive armor?

How many millennia in the future does the MC go, and he still has to 'figure out' controls? We already make tech intuitive now - they LOST that? They didn't get even better at it?

They ask what the MC what he'd like and anticipate needs, tell him he's there to 'witness' and 'observe', but they put him in a RETRO hotel, without even asking what he'd like? So the Overmind is brilliant, intuitive, all capable, but missed the concept of Uncanny Valley?

Humans work 'because they want to' - where's the art, the challenges, the ambitions? Not a peep about how humans have REALLY evolved, or what they do with the aggression drive that helped growing and overcoming challenges. The author puts in wars instead. How many millenia yet NO ONE has figured out how to use that energy productively?

And self-healing? In hundreds of years, humans never figured out how to modify for the ability starfish and some reptiles have, to regrow parts? Or control reproduction, the ability to reabsorb fetuses, store sperm, or delay embryo implant? These already exist in animals...

Instead, the focus is on the creepy dependence on a son who ages and dies and then stays with the MC as a construct for the duration.

The story even highlights how unprepared and incapable the MC is - no physical strength, no self-preservation reflexes. Even the Overmind programs the protective suit for the 'SI' to control - the MC can't even be relied on for that.

Why doesn't the Consciousness fix his depression? It changes out his very muscles and bones (plastic people!), why not correct that?

And the MC's response to all this is not to see all the wonders, but to yearn to get out of the loop. Even with his FAVORITE person (well, the wife left early on) as constant companion. How could the story unfold if a socially competent person had been the MC? Someone who can handle a simple conversation at work?

Maybe 'the point' was to get the SON to observe ... maybe Lyle is the goal, and the MC is just the courier. What a lame plan for an omnipotent force.

Ah, the Overmind can make titanium bones, alter genetics ... but when humans got antimatter, it didn't adapt them for that? Reads like an excuse for a Thunderdome/Waterworld/Escape from New York type ripoff.

Towards the end, the 'travels' bore even the writer. With the book almost done, the bad writing continues - a plastic person gets 'nauseous' (only if he's programmed to!) MC no longer eats or breathes, so they're both SIs at the end. Still ripping off cult classics, without adding new.

Did the author even try to get facts right? At this time (at least), continental drift does NOT project the Americas meeting Africa - the Atlantic is expanding. 'It wasn't so hard to find [Mars]...with Lyle's help.' The MC can't even find the next building without 'Lyle's help'! Also, remembering scenes is not hallucinating, its visualizing or projecting.

And finally ... If you were going to start a new universe, wouldn't it be better to seed it with NON-sentient life? Let it develop without others' imperfect constraints?