I liked the idea of the premise of this book and think it started really well. But then felt it lost its way and the ending seemed very abrupt.
Not for me, sorry

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

A few comments about the book, the first is that if you enjoy something that will have you so involved in the characters loves that you have to keep going to see where this is going, you will love this. However, if you want a story where it is action packed from start to end, has a clear and simple storyline with a ‘bad guy’ and ‘good guys’ who are clear to determine, perhaps miss this.
I absolutely adored the fact that this story so wonderfully wove the past and present, it’s very cleverly written so that the ‘past’ and present are woven together to show you the situation, and what change Arlo makes. They weave together seamlessly in a very clever and unique style.
The storyline is one to slide into gradually, we see Arlo knott growing up and his ability increasing in strength as the story continues, initially beginning from young teens. I loved how believable the Characters all were, although I wasn’t particularly keen on them as individuals.
To be quite honest, Arlo was self centred initially, however that was entirely believable and understandable. If given the power to go back and change the past, wouldn’t you change situations to your benefit? Where you said the wrong thing in a job interview, would you go back and adapt it slightly to help yourself?
This is the kind of route he goes down, I won’t say more because I don’t want to ruin the book and this really is one that you need to experience yourself. A lot of the changes are quite entertaining for one reason or another, and I actually really enjoyed seeing him develop as a ‘person’.
There are several Characters that we follow, including Arlo, his sister and respective partners. How you feel about each character will be very individual, i felt sorry for each at one time or other.
If you haven’t got this on your TBR yet, you really NEED to add it ASAP! It’s absolutely amazing, wholly individual and thoroughly engaging! It will also make you sit and think deeply about whether you would or would not make changes, what would you change and why, and where would you draw the line?

A really interesting book with Arlo at its heart - a boy who has the ability to unwind situations - intriguing!

At the start, he uses his gift/ powers/ability to get the outcome that he prefers or to avoid tricky situations. But as the book unfolds, this ability takes on a different feel that makes you look differently at these scenarios.

At times I really didn’t like Arlo, but as the book progresses - and he matures - his motivations change. Supported by an interesting cast of friends (Tim and Sabra) and colleagues, this tale is grounded by his sister Erin and her PhD colleague Nina who try to unpick Arlo’s talent.

I enjoyed this book although some elements took too long to be resolved which made it drag in places. I also didn’t particularly like the ending but other reviewers found it brilliant.

3.5 to 4* (undecided)
An interesting read that makes you look at life differently.

I really wanted to love this book as it has one of the elements that I like, namely time travel. The book started well and I was enjoying it but about a third of the way in, it sort of lost the plot a little and meandered around but then finished rather suddenly. Arlo is not very likeable - he seems quite weak willed and very reliant on his 'gift'. His girlfriend is also written quite one-dimensionally, although this may be deliberate - Arlo's first person portrayal of her showing his innate self absorption. A solid read if a little disappointing

The Undoing of Arlo Knott was not the book for me, I got 22% of the way in before I gave up. I wasn't a fan of the style of writing and I didn't find the characters very likeable. I tried to read it several times and I just couldn't get into it. I am clearly missing something judging by the other reviews, which is a shame as I love the concept behind it. I am giving this book a neutral 3 star rating as I feel that I can’t give it an overall review as I did not finish it.

The idea of having the ability to undo time is super interesting and ultimately the question that drives the whole plot. Having the opportunity to undo mistakes sounds like the perfect way to live, however I liked that Arlo’s life, his ability to undo are not easy, regardless of this ‘power’, with the text exploring some difficult themes including death, physical and mental illness, relationship and coming of age to name a few.
One of things that I like in a book is when the story is gripping even if the characters aren’t particularly likeable and this was definitely true in this case; Arlo is a fantastic character with many flaws but also very easy to dislike due to his natural ability to be incredibly selfish. A positive aspect was that the writing wasn’t hard to follow, the flow was relatively good throughout and there weren’t any parts where I felt confused or needed to reread, which considering the nature of near constant reversal of time was both surprising and good.
Overall I did enjoying reading this book, but there was something missing for me; the text kept my interest well but it just felt a little too long and there were moments where I just wanted to speed up the plot a bit, but in contrast the ending felt too abrupt, like something could’ve been added to round it up but it was a really thought provoking read, with the idea of undoing decisions a really good plot device, however it just wasn’t quite enough for me, it still felt like there was something missing, although the character developments were brilliantly executed. I would recommend it, regardless of the issues I found in it as it’s unlike anything I’ve read recently.

A slow start, but then as Arlo becomes more in control of setting time back and redoing his actions, the book becomes more interesting. I found the end tricky to understand, and had to reread it a few times and even then I’m not sure I understood it, but overall a solid 4 stars for a thought-provoking read.

What a curious read, let’s be honest Arlo Knott is nothing but simple or easy, he is SPECIAL and his life will be exceptional, but it will start with a tragic death. Ready to discover “The Undoing of Arlo Knott”?
This had been a different read from the books I am used to, this was like the Arlo Knott memoir, when his life changes completely and he starts having a curious power, he can undone the previous actions he has done. Yes, it sounds a little bit strange, but is a really useful “power” that I would love to have! There are endless possibilities with his “power” the only question it would be what would you do with it, help the others or yourself? Arlo will have a little bit of both, it will take a while to decide what he really wants to do with his life, and not all the previous choices will be nice.
This had been a very interesting read, we will see how Arlo grows and his priorities change when he grows as a person. Because this is a trip that you take with Arlo; you are his companion, his shadow and confident. He will have his ups and downs, and his life will not be full of people but just a few special persons that will mark him forever; making this story original and absorbing. I’ll have to admit that I didn’t like much Arlo as a person, but as the story progresses you start having a special connection with him and his life.
There’s a surprise in the end, I was half expecting it, but it had shocked me anyway!
Ready to discover Arlo Knott, he will have a few tricks on her pocket to surprise you…

A new book by Heather Child? I’m in. Loved her first book, Everything About You, a clever, creepy, smart thriller which you should definitely check out. I said at the time that I couldn’t want to see what she came up with next.

Well, here it is. The Undoing of Arlo Knott. I was planning on saving this for an upcoming holiday but just couldn’t resist taking a peek. A peek which turned into ‘just one chapter’. Which, somewhat inevitably, resulted in emerging from Arlo’s world some hours later, wondering at what I’d just experienced.

It’s an incredible concept – what if you could flip back in time a few moments to undo something you’ve said or done? What if you could keep trying, a second chance, a third?

We follow Arlo’s life (or fragments of life) from a traumatic event in his childhood which may have triggered his unusual ability, through various escapades and adventures. Chatting up a woman? Wind back when that line didn’t work. Betting on sports events? Easy money. His abilities are fantastic but do come with a darker side which leave you wincing at times.

I must confess that for chunks of this book I didn’t really like Arlo much, but Heather Child’s skilful writing and plotting draws you into his world and you won’t be able to put it down. She’s got a real gift for character, and Arlo, though flawed, is wonderfully different.

It’s love which drives the central core of the story – Arlo’s love for his mother, his sister, his girlfriend. But what would you do for love? How far would you go? Moral dilemmas abound!

If Everything About You was a confident debut, then The Undoing of Arlo Knott is an even more confident sophomore. And once again, I cannot wait to see what Heather Child comes up with next.

Hugely recommended.

The Undoing of Arlo Knott by Heather

This starts with young Arlo helping his mum in the garden, he’s holding the ladder for her while she sands down some woodwork. He is then distracted by a slowworm and moves away from the ladder……..the tragedy that follows haunts him with guilt….could a slight boy have actually made a difference…?

Arlo then discovers he has a ‘gift’….he can jump back in time a few seconds….with practice this gets a little longer….at first he uses it to get himself out of situations, like eating his nans shortbread, or breaking something….but then he starts using it for his own gain, revenge on a bully, chatting to girls. Somehow just knowing what to say!

He becomes a selfish, self centred young man and takes advantage of many people…but then he falls in love with Sabra, a musician, who came into his life due to an accident that he had caused…….it changed her life plans forever.

While this all seems so lucky, Arlo is always tormented by his actions and never really satisfied with anything and this is a tale of sadness and a bit of melancholy….so many what if I’s?……his gift is a bit of a curse. Can Arlo come to realise his actions have far greater consequences…..? Or will this be his undoing?

I found this to be a captivating read, beautifully written and so thought provoking……who hasn’t had moments of regret and wondering….what if? I can thoroughly recommend it and this will be a must read for Book clubs everywhere.

Thank you to The publishers, the author and NetGalley for a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

Highlight
The concept
Arlo's journey

Overall
Highly interesting concept and great execution!

I knew, going into this book, that the chapters would not be in order. Reading it, it made more sense later on in the book. The parts of this book are backwards... as in "The Undoing of Arlo Knott". This book is filled with those tiny magical bits that you probably wouldn't think of before a later on. Cleaver Heather! Having said that, the chapter number was a bit random but never mind. Though, starting at thirteen and finishing at thirty-seven, it could represent Arlo's age 🤔. Didn't think about that before writing this.

The Story
It took a while before I felt that this book started. The first 20% of the book felt more like a kind of introduction to Arlo his gift and how he learns to use it and how he grows up with it. As I continued to read I realised that this is just the way the book is. I haven't read anything like this so it is difficult to explain and comment on. But it felt more like it was like a slice-of-life type book but for most of his life.

The World-building
There wasn't much building needed in this book. Its set somewhere in the UK probably starts sometime in the 90s.

The magic/science
It quite obvious how this gift/"magic" works as Arlo himself tries to figure things out and shares with the reader.

The characters
Arlo is the main character in the story and tells his story. He is a child in the beginning and we follow him throughout his life and he tries to be the best he can be. As a young child, his action causes a massive change in his life regret and guilt follows him throughout his life. The ability to undo his actions kicks in after this event and he goes about undoing his mistakes. However, physics is a bit more complicated than that.

LGBT+?
A side character.
There was mentioned how lucky this person was to have two liberal parents who would accept her as she was (gay). And I felt this was quite an ignorant statement to make. Luck has nothing to do with it. But I also feel it was the character who was ignorant and not the author. It was straight out of Arlo's head and he did have several ignorant thoughts in general before learning his way.

I didn't particularly like Arlo as a person until he meets Sabra. His teenage years were not great, but it was essential to his journey and it made sense. I did like who he became towards the end though.

The Writing
The writing was smooth even though the parts jumped a bit into the future, you were always told that on the first page.

The was a significant lack of dialogue in this book but I didn't notice that until 30% in so it didn't matter. When I did notice it, I felt weird that I didn't care more... odd!

There was some telling in this text but considering it was told from Arlo's point of view all the time, it was consistent and wasn't "out of place" even though I'm not a bit fan of it.

Summary
A very fascinating book. Well worth a read! I look forward to reading her other books :)

Following up the success of last year's Everything About You, which explored SF ideas about a future of virtual and augmented reality, Child returns with a more fantasy driven story, focussed on a central idea and its consequences: what if you could turn back time, undoing moments and unpicking mistakes?

Arlo Knott is introduced in childhood, a happy child whose life is about to change forever. After a shocking trauma, he discovers that he has a talent for going back and changing things - not, though, that event.

Child paints a convincing and sympathetic portrait of the boy, and then the the teenager and young man, Arlo. It's an impressive achievement, especially given that Arlo isn't a very likeable character. As he freely admits himself, he is self-centred, oblivious to the needs of others, and self-pitying. One of the clearest aspects of this novel is how, later admitting those failings, Arlo continues to embody them, if in subtler ways. The child and the teenager crave attention and approval (something that has roots both in that previously mentioned event, and in earlier loss - Arlo's father having vanished to the US in quest of an acting career) but the man... ah, the man graduates from using his talent to turn over casinos and scratchcard vendors for easy wins to stage magic, using it to underpin a mind-reading act. He swears there's no trickery even while admitting he's literally turning back time. And it's clearly not about money - it's a quest for adulation, and when the clapping ends, he dumps the stage act.

And so it goes, as Arlo manipulates his way through a succession of careers, and through relationships too. He earlier noted that he never used his "gift" as you might imagine a teenage boy would - though he seems to come pretty close - but when he fancies a girl it proves very useful to be able to backtrack on conversational deadness and reflect her own views and preferences back to her.

For much of the book, then, Arlo is something of a rat and it's only the growing entanglements of family, his girlfriend and the succession of - I'm not sure what word to use - victims, perhaps? - he leaves in his wake that (eventualy) gives him pause for thought. When it does happen, though, the trap that Child sets for Arlo is so clever and so wicked that, as I've said, one actually does sympathises.

This is a breathtaking book, notable not only for a high concept but also for the down to Earth and plausible interaction of Arlo with that and for the effect on his personality and development. We also get a very human take on relationships, family - including ageing, the father eventually coming back from the US for support with his dementia, spending his time, in a metaphor for the book as a whole, devising and building a labyrinthine board game which seems to have Arlo at hits heart. Arlo's stormy relationship with his sister also plays a large part, Child revealing her view of events fairly late in the book and transforming one's understanding of it when she does.

It's a great read, the various sections dealing with Arlo's different careers (self-aggrandising even when allegedly altruistic) keeping the main themes in sight while ringing the changes, so that the book never settles down into samey, soft-centredness but instead keeps surprising and changing the reader. I hesitate to use clichés like "unputdownable' but this is a book that is very easy to keep reading and reading.

And when it runs into its nail biting close... well, as my poor dogs, eating for their evening walk, found out earlier this evening, yes, I think it might even justify that phrase.

All in all a triumphant successor to Child't first book.

https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2019/8/10/the-undoing-of-arlo-knott-by-heather-child

We’ve all been told that our mistakes in the long run help us develop. Learning from what we did wrong in life should protect us in the future by preventing the same mistakes? But what if you could always rewind that mistake and choose the right path? In this brilliant and beautifully written novel from Heather Child we meet a man who over the course of his life has learnt to use that ability, but it doesn’t mean he is not unscarred by his experiences.

Our narrator is Arlo Knott telling us the story of his life. It starts in tragedy as Arlo loses his mother in a tragic accident. He and his sister Erin are sent to stay with his mother as his unresponsive father is living in the US trying to get a film career. Arlo becomes an angry teenager raging at what he has lost but in the course of this experience he realises he can rewind time. Initially just a few seconds but as he gets older minutes, hours and eventually days. He really could be the man who has everything, but can this make him happy?

For me the whole success of this novel is how Arlo comes alive in the narration. Importantly this is not a tale told in real-time it is instead Arlo telling us about key events that took place during several years of his life. This is an adult looking back at the person(s) they were and being able to both explain and condemn their actions. As such we are allowed to both like Arlo and at times stare in horror at his occasional selfishness. We are there right from the start when he loses his mother in a horrible accident. The scene where he as a young child realises his mother is going to die is beautifully heart-breaking. But we also see where his channelled anger at the world is going and we cheer him on as he strikes back at his school bullies. We see as he ages and then becomes a young student that he is still carrying that anger and as a young man in his twenties that version of Arlo uses everything for personal gain whether that be money, jobs or to be successful with any woman he wants to romance. He is the worst over privileged man you can imagine at that point but crucially Child uses the voice of the older Arlo to explore why he behaves that way and he himself condemning his behaviour and importantly owning his errors rather than just always blaming his childhood. This is a great exploration for why some men are the way they are – not justifying it but explaining how they act and think.

There is a fascinating exploration of masculinity here as Knott is angry teen; privileged student and in his twenties often self-involved. We see other characters without this power using this too (a sobering university scene where he realises the very rich also don’t have to worry about mistakes if they are rich enough to never suffer long from them) and Knott as a working-class young man gets a chance to review the world of fame and fortune from then on differently. At one point becoming a very renown stage magician. But what I liked about this was Knott’s growing realisation that the world didn’t revolve around him.

Because Arlo has to live the other timeline to know what the consequences are, he starts to see what happens to everyone when things go wrong and tries to fix it. This mentally ages him, and we see growing maturity. At the same time though we see a man enjoying that he can take risks without the joy of losing. That can be gambling but as we get older see him drawn towards policing, mine-clearing and finally hostage negotiations. The outside world sees a man confident in his abilities so trusts him to do the right thing based on reputation and deliberately enigmatic presence but in reality, Arlo is just scrambling around myriad futures trying to find the right path to a win. There is a fascinating and very powerful sequence where Arlo has to try and help a woman stop killing herself and every time, he fails she will die. We can see him grow up as the scenes keep ending in tragedy and by the end, he realises he needs to do better. Is he just a very confident mediocre white guy with one special gift or is there more to him than wanting to win? The novel doesn’t like to give easy answers and that makes it a thoughtful character exploration. A growing thread of plot that Arlo’s actions will always have consequences for those he chooses to save which really comes loose in the finale and makes us think carefully about our own enjoyment of seeing his powers in action.

To aid this we see several key characters who surround his life. There is his fascinating older sister Erin who is clearly the intelligent academic aiming to be a physicist but also suffering from a lack of joy and ability to relax in contrast with her sibling. Their relationship is one of the best portrayals of an over-competitive brother and sister relationships mixing affection with an almost perverse ability to make the other angry with each other but watching Arlo realise what his sister has had to deal with is eye-opening. Finally, there is Sabra a student he meets in bizarre circumstances and while initially he sees her as a just another future conquest, he finds someone who gets and acts like him on a level he’s not encountered before. However, two risk-takers together are not always going to be the best combination. Again, the novel is great at exploring consequences of action and even the ‘right’ paths that Arlo chooses can have some outcomes even he cannot easily fix, and they change how he behaves himself. There is an overarching theme of taking responsibility and we see Arlo battling against a desire to prove he is a good person - as seen in some of his later career choices and the temptation to just do what he wants as he never has to pay the cost for long. Eventually though this may finally be too much.

I really liked how the novel changes styles to fit Arlo’s developing personality. Childhood scenes feel more idyllic and simpler; his twenties feel a world of superficial gloss and showbusiness while his later roles allows Child to do tense London police drama and finally global thriller in a tense hostage stand-off in Thailand. The style fits Arlo’s personality at the time and keeps the flow of an ever-changing personality.

I was a huge fan of Child’s debut Everything About You a fascinating and intelligent thriller that looks at how we live with technology and where it may take us. This provides an equally smart look at how people take responsibility for our action and explores concepts of guilt, toxic masculinity and learning to take account of your actions. This tale really reminds me of the authors such as Claire North who take a high concept idea and then run with it exploring the consequences of that simple change to reality. One of my favourite reads so far this year and one I think you should be giving a try if you like character based intelligent fantasy. I will be intrigued what Child has next to offer us in their future work.

I am honestly struggling to put my thoughts into words right now, the first thing I thought when I finished this incredible book was “WOW” - this book is just short of 450 pages long and I read it in just a few hours because I couldn’t put it down, I NEEDED to know what was going to happen.

We meet Arlo as a 13 year old boy, he’s helping his mum do some DIY, gets distracted by an insect and tries to catch it in a bid to impress a friend, in the few seconds that he wasn’t holding onto the ladder something tragic happens, something he spends his whole life wishing he could take back.

Shortly after the accident Arlo discovers he can erase his previous action, to back in time to hopefully learn from his mistakes and try again, To begin with he can only go back a couple of seconds, the he book follows Arlo up until the age of 37 and throughout the book you see him perfecting his skill and soon learn to go back for a longer period each time.

This story was so action packed, and every stage of Arlo’s life was believable for the age he was supposed to be, using his ‘power’ to gain money and impress girls between the ages of 18-21

Using it to further his various careers after that.

There was so much action in this book that it never got boring, we had police shootout, A hostage situation and lots of other things in between.

Seeing the development of Arlos character throughout was beautiful, I really didn’t like him to begin with, I saw him as a spoilt child, but by the end I loved him so much.

This story shows us that even if you have the ability to turn back time, that maybe it’s not the best idea because after all every action has a consequence & near the end of the book you start to feel that Arlo is beginning to realise exactly that, but is he really?

The twist at the end of the book shocked me but made me love this even more - I really feel everyone needs to read this!

I know this has been a really long review, but before I leave, can we please talk about the beautiful cover? - it sums up the story perfectly, although you won’t realise why until you read the book, so go do that now!

An interesting and engrossing book, more speculative fiction than fantasy, that will give you a lot of food for thought.
I appreciated the style of writing, it's apparently simple but it's multilayered and make you stop and reflect on what you just read.
The plot flows and never bores, the cast of characters is fleshed out, the world building is unusual and interesting.
It's the first book I read by Heather Child and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

https://lynns-books.com/2019/08/05/the-undoing-of-arlo-knott-by-heather-child/
The undoing of Arlo Knott was a captivating and thought provoking tale that literally made me think – ‘be careful what you wish for’.

The story gets off to a really strong start. We meet Arlow as a young boy, gauche and awkward, a self confessed ‘mummy’s boy’ and in fact he is indeed helping his mum as she undertakes some DIY on their cosy little house. It’s simply one of those scenes that you know, like you sometimes know it’s going to thunder, that things are going to go horribly wrong – and of course, they do. This is a day that will have a massive impact on both Arlo and his sister. A day of ‘what ifs’. But, in real life there are no ‘what ifs’. You make your choice and take your chance and that’s that. And yet, Arlo discovers, too late to have any impact on that disastrous summer day where one moment of carefree behaviour led to a tragic accident, that he in fact can reverse time. Maybe only little snippets at first, but eventually having a far more reaching effect – although never quite enough to go back and prevent that one big life changing moment.

Now, when Arlo discovers this special ability he’s a young boy really and so of course he uses it for all types of petty revenge not to mention abusing it to chat up girls. He can’t say anything wrong if he can keep rewinding until he gets things right after all! The problem is that Arlo becomes lazy. As he experiments more and more with his special ability and understands the freedom which it brings he really, well, for a time, becomes quite easy to dislike. If he says the wrong thing he can simply rewind it which in turn means he has very little thought in his head for anyone else or their feelings. To an extent, his ability actually has a negative impact on him. He never takes that heedless rush at things, experiments or takes chances, because everything he does comes with a ‘time back’ guarantee. Does he really have friends or a partner that know him? And that’s what I mean by ‘be careful what you wish for’. We have all had moments where we’ve thought ‘If I’d only…’ but having the power to rewind those moments in some way steals the real impact and the true life lessons that those moments teach us It’s like he never really experiences anything – or at least, he does, but in ten different ways which means he never really learns anything – he knows he doesn’t have to because he can rewind.

On the face of it Arlo seems impossibly lucky. He gets to change his career repeatedly and quite unrealistically and always becomes good at what he does. He’s like the golden child. His sister, who is actually incredibly intelligent and a well respected physicist has a lot less easy time of things in spite of really striving to achieve. There is the sense of ‘unfairness’ to it all but I’m sure we’ve all had friends or colleagues who seem unbelievably lucky and Arlo comes across as one of those. Maybe we all know an ‘Arlo’?

At the start of the story I can’t say I really liked Arlo. He was incredibly self centred but, he really does have an incredible story arc eventually coming to the realisation that he isn’t really experiencing life the way things currently stands – which coincidentally almost clashes with another character unexpectedly wanting to manipulate his talents.

So, criticisms. Well, there is very little, ergo none at all, explanations here. In some ways I respect that. This is a story of fantasy after all. Nobody expects the existence of dragons to be explained when they pick up The Hobbit so why can’t Arlo knott and his special abilities simply exist in a modern contemporary setting? He can, of course, but the only issue for me was that I had other little niggles. Everytime Arlo turned back time I couldn’t help but wonder – does that affect everyone in the world? It surely must – but then that seems such a big deal that it practically blew my mind. Also, there is an underlying theme of sadness – so you do need to be in the right mood for this – which isn’t to say this book won’t grab you and hold you from the get go – because it will – but just be prepared that this isn’t necessarily a rosy tale of happyness. And, I reached a certain point in the read where it started to feel monotonous with Arlo repeating, rewinding, and repeating mistakes – that is until things change.

This is a difficult book to review in that I don’t want to give away spoilers, which is why I’ve not gone into the plot at all. What I will say is that this is a strange tale of a young man trying to change things, who falls in love and realises that he doesn’t always need to change things – until he realises that his own constant mini-rewinds have more of an impact than he ever realised.

I enjoyed this, I was hooked, I had a blip of ‘sameness’ at a certain point but I was never not intrigued enough to continue reading and the more I reflect upon it the more I appreciate just how clever it really is.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher,f or which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Soon after his mother suffers a terrible accident, 13 year old Arlo Knott discovers that he has the ability to jump back in time, only for a short time - enough to undo the punches he has just inflicted on his sister, but, unfortunately, not enough to save his mum. Always a mummy’s boy, already abandoned by his father, Arlo initially uses his ability to fit in, to try out approaches to conversations, to relationships, taking back ‘errors’, seemingly always saying or doing the perfect thing. But, self-centred as he is, Arlo uses his trial and error gift for his own benefit, trying multiple lottery scratch cards until he finds a winner, building a name as a mind reading magician. Even his desire to use his gift for good is motivated by how others will see him. He craves the recognition and reward he once got from his mother. And Arlo’s decisions become increasingly careless and even unethical...

In truth, ‘The Undoing of Arlo Knott’ crept up on me. Heather Child is a very talented writer who has that rare gift of deceptively simple prose, a writer who disappears and lets the story tell itself. What started and a pleasant novel with an intriguing concept completely drew me in. I became invested in Arlo, who narrates his own tale. Child made him sympathetic even as I questioned his choices and then, too late to go back, I realised where she was going with this, and it is devastating.


I had never read Heather Child before but am really glad I did. ‘The Undoing of Arlo Knott’ is a thought provoking and moving book. I am still thinking about it days, and weeks, later. Thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for the invitation to take part in the BlogTour and to Orbit Books for the review copy.

This is a difficult review for me to write as I think I'm in the minority of not loving this book. I think it's a good concept but the book just lacked pace and didn't come together for me at the end. I normally like dislikeable characters but Arlo was so annoying and arrogant that he just got on my nerves and I didn't care about him.

I would say it is well written and I think it's a reflection of what many of us feel at some point in our lives. You find yourself asking, what if I'd left the house only a few minutes earlier, I should've taken that call - but maybe, as Arlo discovers, everything happens for a reason.

All in all this book wasn't for me but I think I would still recommend it.

The Undoing of Arlo Knott by Heather Child

Arlo Knott discovers, in the most appalling and traumatic circumstances, that he has an astonishing skill, almost a superhuman gift – he can reverse his last action; he can actually turn back time. This ability transforms Arlo’s life in every way and his personality undergoes a whirlpool of emotions, life choices and decisions, as he uses this skill for all kinds of purposes. As he learns to manipulate his talent, Arlo realises just how many ways there are in which he can use it to get rich or, perhaps more importantly to him, to win admiration and respect. But then he also considers its wider uses and his responsibilities – that he can use it to save lives, to become a hero. But what Arlo wants more than anything is to love and be loved and it’s there that sadness lies as he discovers what is genuinely important and the reality of his insignificance to change what matters.

The Undoing of Arlo Knott is a truly extraordinary novel. In big ways it’s speculative science fiction as we watch Arlo manipulate time and recent events for various reasons. All of which raises the huge question of what would we do if we could undo an event, reverse an action or word that we regret, save someone we love. But how much would you change? How far back would you go? Where would you draw the line as life’s knots grow increasingly complex and entangled?

There is so much going on in this novel. It’s absolutely packed with life as Arlo explores every aspect of his gift while still being traumatised by the event that triggered it and yet still trying to make a future for himself. The Undoing of Arlo Knott is extremely entertaining and lively as Arlo pursues so many personas, some of them outrageous. And all the time he is watched by those he loves and cares for.

Arlo Knott dominates the novel, as you’d expect, and we grow close to him as he tells his story in his own words. But there are other significant characters, too, each of whom plays an important role in Arlo’s life as he explores his relationship with them and tries to help them. But sometimes in helping you can make things worse. Some things cannot be undone. Arlo is an appealing character as he discovers the many different consequences of undoing an act and realises how dangerous, terrifying and whimsical life really is.

And so the novel investigates relationships and the nature of love in so many forms. Arlo’s family is fascinating. They’re almost just out of reach. Arlo defines himself by love and with it comes guilt. Heather Child explores this with such sensitivity and insight.

This is a brilliantly written and clever novel. It shocks and amuses and it has so many twists and unexpected developments. I love speculative fiction and with The Undoing of Arlo Knott we see the genre at its very best.