Author:James Goodhand
Publisher:MIRA
ISBN: 9780778369646
Aman discovers he is time traveling through different eras of his lifebut doesn’t know what started the travel or where and when it willlead him. As he struggles with waking up in a new year and time everysingle day, he pieces together the possibilities of where his lifehas gone and how difficult it might be to change the trajectory ofhis fate. Author James Goodhand takes readers on an emotional journeythat might slow down in spots but is worth the wait in his latestbook TheDay Tripper.
In1995, Alex Dean is on the verge of all the best things in life. Helives in London, he’s secured a spot at Cambridge University forthe upcoming year, and he’s dating the most beautiful girl in theworld, Holly. Alex and Holly met while he was working at the BlueMoon, a pub where he often plays his guitar, and the two of them arenow inseparable. There’s absolutely nothing more that Alex couldwant.
Itseems like a cruel twist of the universe, then, that Alex runs into aformer bully one night, and the two get into a knock-down-drag-outfight that leaves Alex severely injured. When he wakes up the nextmorning, Alex finds himself 15 years into the future. His life iscompletely different; in fact, it’s in shambles. Throughout theday, he pieces together what happened from the people he runs intoand those he seeks out, although the one person he can’t find isHolly. What happened to her? And how on earth did he end up in thefuture?
Whenhe wakes up the next day, Alex makes a horrifying discovery: histravel through time has continued and has now taken him to 2019. Onceagain, everything is different. Once again, his equation with Hollyisn’t anywhere near what he wants it to be. And once again, hislife is a complete wreck.
Ashe lives through each day, Alex finds himself running into peoplefrom his life in various states and stages. Sometimes Holly is there;sometimes she’s not. When she is and he can get through to her, itseems like they’ve lived through the “right person/wrong time”phase of life. Alex hates that more than anything, more thandiscovering that he’s become an alcoholic or is in prison for aterrible crime he knows he didn’t commit or that he’s left hisprecious music behind. He also finds himself face to face with hisbully more than once.
Despitethe relentless thirst that follows him through every single day, Alexknows he has to figure out what’s going on if he wants things tochange. He meets someone who might be able to help him, but thisperson makes it clear: Alex is going to have to do all the hard workof redeeming himself if he wants things to get better. Which makessense to Alex in theory; in practice, however, he realizes he’llhave to make some really tough choices and then stick with them ifhe’s going to get any happiness back at all.
AuthorJames Goodhand creates an incredibly likeable protagonist in Alex.His flaws make him even more attractive as a main character. Goodhandputs Alex through some situations that will make readers wince forhow hard they are, yet he also gives Alex just enough space to clawhis way back to his goal of making things right again. The journey isan emotional one and tough to watch but grounded in reality.
Anotherdelightful feature of the book is getting to follow Alex through someof London’s history with politics and current events. Some readersmay automatically assume London is a sophisticated city with mostlyupper class people. Goodhand does an excellent job of bringing Londondown to reality and making it accessible for everyone, both throughAlex’s ever-changing circumstances as well as the setting anddescriptions.
Thepace slows down somewhat just before the halfway mark, which mightmake some readers impatient. However, Goodhand uses the pacing tomake Alex earn his redemption. Watching the protagonist go throughthe agony of mistakes, life-changing realizations, and then a slowmove toward a hopeful ending is satisfying in all the best wayspossible.
Thoseintrigued with time travel as a premise and don’t need every singlequestion about that genre answered will definitely enjoy this one. Irecommend readers BingeTheDay Tripper byJames Goodhand.