An interesting read that will leave you thinking about it long after you finish it. An emotional read I found at times, not the lightest of subject matters, mortality, but again a really interesting read, thought provoking and multi layered.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

If we knew the consequences of our actions, how many of us would change things? If we could live a life without regrets, how many of us would accept what comes with it? If we had even the slightest inkling that someone could rewind time, what would we think of them? How would our lives and decisions be different?
In this intriguing read, we’re introduced to Arlo Knott who can alter time and who, over time, has learned how to manipulate events to change the outcome.
At the start of the book we are with a young boy who feels incredible guilt at having stepped away from the stepladder he was holding before his mum fell. Is he responsible for her death? Perhaps not, but he certainly feels he is. So when he starts to realise that he can shift time (albeit fractionally at first), Arlo begins what could seem to be a charmed life.
There was some fun to be had with the central idea, but as Arlo starts to see the effects his decisions/unwindings have, it raises some interesting questions.
No easy answers here, but this was definitely an enjoyable read. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication in exchange for my thoughts.

Arlo is an ordinary 13 year old boy until a terrible accident rocks his world. Following the trauma of losing someone very dear to him, for which Arlo blames himself, he finds that he is suddenly able to undo events by slipping back in time a few seconds and redoing them. Though he cannot go back far enough to repair the serious damage to his family that he had a hand in causing. As Arlo grows up he tests out his 'power' more and more, the seconds he is able to retract extending to minutes, the minutes to hours.... He knows he has a marvellous opportunity to use his gift for good, and he does help others at times, though it soon becomes clear that a lot of the instances of using his gift are for his own gain and glory. But for how long will it be before the consequences of his actions and the laws of physics catch up with Arlo?

This is an extremely engrossing story, probably more science fiction or perhaps magical realism than outright fantasy. A thought provoking read with some very memorable characters.

I enjoyed Everything About You when I read it last year so was quite intrigued to see what the author would serve up for this, her second book. And, the verdict; I blooming loved it!
Arlo Knott suffers a devastating loss as a child and has felt guilty ever since. One day, he finds that he can "rewind time" initially only going back a minute or two, but long enough for him to erase mistakes, take back things he's said, or find out information he can manipulate people/situations with. Sadly, he can't go back far enough to "undo" the biggest regret of his life but he can make the life he has more bearable. But, as we all know, actions have consequences, even ones that are undone. How far will Arlo go to keep his life on track and will he ever be able to go back far enough to make a real difference?
You know how many times I've wished to be able to "undo" stupid things I've said in the heat of the moment, or rewind to before I went out last night. Luckily, I did most of my stupid stuff before the age of the internet and social media so evidence is few and far between. Even so, there's still a bunch of "off the cuff" comments that I really should have left as "things you think", and more than a few "wake up in shock" moments at what may have happened when I was a bit drunk. I quite fancy giving a few people a gentle slap and taking it back too! But I'm no Arlo Knott and I also guess that maybe, if I was, the temptation to "undo" would get a bit out of control.
Arlo is a complex character. Probably due to his many "rewind and redo" moments, you never quite see the real person behind all that manipulation. He also seems to have an air of self-importance and can be arrogant at times. This all makes him a bit unlikable, especially when the majority of the things he rewinds only really help him, he's kinda selfish in that regard. But he does have the odd redeeming characteristic so I was able to connect to him in some way as the story progressed.
I can't say too much about it but I really enjoyed both the way the book was set out and the way the timey-wimey elements came together at the end (and you may well have to re-read the last few pages - I did!). Oh and more importantly, yes, it starts at part 6, no need for panic!
This is one of the rare books that I have now added to my to be re-read pile. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

What if your life had an 'undo' button?

At thirteen, among pain and regret for his mother's passing, Arlo Knott realizes that he has an extraordinary ability: he can reverse his most recent action. His power, at this point, comes with limitations: he has to remember exactly what was done in order to reverse it, and it must be the most recent happening. But it's still a tremendous ability. Is this his free pass card into a life with no serious mistakes or dangers? Or can this lead to repercussions?

Soon enough, Arlo will realize that for every choice, there's a price to pay. Even for him, and even as, while getting older, his ability seems to be growing. You can't leave skeletons in your closet forever, and Arlo will have to understand that sooner or later. Meanwhile, strange results of his ability will come to haunt him.

The Undoing of Arlo Knott is a beautiful, hard-breaking, mind-shattering story of a person that holds an unthinkable, for today's standards, power: to undo the actions that didn't turn out well, while living the what-ifs that the rest of humanity can only ponder about. Arlo himself is a peculiar character, driven by intelligence as much as by grief. Not always making the right choices (even with the power he holds in his hands), he goes through a life that's equally intriguing and tragic, with small spots of sunshine in between. Arlo shows us what the human mind (and soul) are capable of: both in a positive and a negative scope. And his story doesn't cease to amaze, from the beginning to the very last page.

Heather Child has carefully constructed a true masterpiece. I would gladly read this story over and over without ceasing to be absorbed by its details. This is a book you'll want on your 2019 list - in fact, why not read it exactly once it's out? This is a choice you will not regret.

Hi and welcome to my review of The Undoing of Arlo Knott! First of all, I’d like to invite you to take a good look at that gorgeous cover, because it pretty much sums up the whole story, albeit in a way you don’t really realise until you’ve read it. Also, a note on the chaptering, which is a bit funny: it starts with part 6. A publisher note explains that this is meant to reflect the time-reversing aspects of the novel. While I don’t exactly see the added value in this, it doesn’t distract from the story, nor is it confusing at any time. The chapters in each part are not neatly numbered starting from 1 either: they reflect Arlo’s age. In that way there are multiple chapters with the same number. Again, not confusing at all, and I do see the added value in this, because his age does matter more than protagonists’ ages in other books.

Right, so, The Undoing of Arlo Knott starts with Arlo, aged thirteen. A tragic accident that he’s at least partially to blame for changes his life forever and soon after he realises he can do something no one else seems to be able to: he can undo actions or events by returning in time to just before they took place.

From that point in time onwards, we follow Arlo through life, as he goes forward in time like everybody else, but also back in time. His ability to time-travel, albeit very limitedly, makes him nonchalant and brazen on the one hand, and a bit of a freeloader on the other: as a student he needs money, what easier way than to go gambling, or buy scratch cards. All the possibilities are there, all the realities are for the taking, once he has seen one reality, one possibility, it becomes real, but he can return and let it play again, or change reality by doing or saying something else.

Arlo leads a fascinating life, all the while trying to figure out what his ability means, how it might be explained, and all the while trying to stretch it, going back just a minute more, just an hour more, honing his unique skill. For a while he’s a magician, the great ArlO, raking in the money, because what he can do is as close to real magic as one can get. But eventually tiring of freeloading and his own self-centredness, and realising his ability is what got him and possibly lost him the love of his life, he decides to use it for the greater good, to help people and he starts a new career. But can he really keep meddling with people’s lives like this, even if it is for the greater good, or is he messing with fate?

Arlo’s journey is a fascinating one. His character’s arc is incredible. You see him grow as a person throughout the story and although I didn’t really like him at first, he grew on me as he was growing as a person. Knowing how he started out, that rather selfish little boy, and how the novel ends, is just… wow. This is a thriller, a family drama, a love story, an episode of Black Mirror and a Blake Crouch novel all rolled up in one sublimely plotted novel with a gasp-inducing finale that must be added to your reading list this summer, or next winter, or whatever, just add it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it, especially to all the Black Mirror fans out there.

The Undoing of Arlo Knott is out on 1 August, pre-order here!

Massive thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the free eARC! All opinions are my own and I was not paid to give them.

This was an intriguing tale of physics and life. Arlo Knott had a rare ability, he could undo time-space continuum. He could go back in time and correct his mistakes. This started with a few seconds in the past until it moved on to greater lengths of time. And this was his life story as he learned how time and universes really worked. And the role he played in that.

Heather Child has written a thought provoking concept based on a single line - what if we could have an undo button? How would we use it? I liked how Arlo's character had developed over the pages. She showed me his abilities and his mind frame at every age starting from when he was 13, when he lost his mum.

Power is heady and when such a power made you rich and a savior, you bet it would be used for personal gains. Arlo did that, he was selfish and greedy. He gambled and womanized. He became a magician, the Great Arlo. But he soon joined the police and started saving people. But it was all done for personal glory.

Along with him, his psysicist sister Erin and her girlfriend Nina and his love Sabra had a monumental part to play in his character development and understanding the physics behind it. He was not a likable character, but down the pages, I liked how he grew up to understand the repercussion of his abilities. He tried to correct some of them. His main motto in life was Save Sabra, his love. But did he really save her?

Child's writing kept the story pretty gripping. With such an ability, I had to know the truth behind it and where Arlo's life would finally land. The book started with Part 6 to end in an explosive finale of part 1. And the end reveal just took my breath away. Past and future were the same, and and the way the author has weaved them in, you have to read this book to believe it! Brilliant!! Definitely a different story.

"If waves of regret could have washed me so far backwards, they would have done so already"

* * * * 
4 / 5

Enthralling and fascinating, unsettling and haunting, The Undoing of Arlo Knott is definitely an interesting read. The story of Arlo Knott bobs and weaves, ducks and dodges along the entire timeline of his life and what a life it is. There is something bleak and disturbing and warped about Arlo, and it makes for such an engaging read.

"I was a magician all right, twenty-four hours a day"

When Arlo is thirteen his mother falls into a coma, and it's partially his fault. When his older sister Erin makes the decision to turn off the life support, Arlo learns that he can turn back the clock. At first it is just for a few seconds, enough to undo a sentence or a touch. Arlo uses this to flirt, to joke, to take out his anger, all without consequence. He moves in with his nan. He goes to university, and develops his skill, ticking back time minutes at a time as he undoes first introductions and exams and lottery numbers. 

Then he's an aimless young adult in love with a woman, Sabra, whose career he has ruined. Yet if he takes back what he did, he takes back their first meeting, their flirtation. So he doesn't. Arlo becomes a performer, a magician, a brooder. His face is young but his mind is older, as his mind tries to work through remembering things that other people don't, and the recklessness he lends others as everything goes right around him. 

"Was it Sabra I loved, or the way she was happy to toy with the world, as I did?"

Arlo is a unique character. It's a fascinating premise and it's used to write a book which is essentially an extended character study. The reader is just along for the ride of Arlo's life. And there is something so bleak and unsettling and hollow about his life. Child perfectly balances on that line between making Arlo's skill a gift and a curse, so that he is both likeable and dislikable, blessed and pitiable in equal turns.

This book is weird and thought-provoking and multifaceted, and it is definitely worth your time. 

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of The Undoing of Arlo Knott.

When I read the blurb for this book it reminded me of an episode of one of my favourite TV shows growing up, ‘Round the Twist’. Paul Jennings was one of my favourite authors and I loved encountering the unexpected in his stories. He wrote the episode, ‘Spaghetti Pig Out’, where a main character finds a remote control that can pause, fast forward or rewind anything or anyone it’s aimed at. This coincides with a spaghetti eating competition and the school bully just so happens to find out about the remote before the competition begins. Naturally he decides to use the remote control to attempt to win the competition, with amusing and quite disgusting results. I loved that episode! Anyway, I digress.

I was intrigued by this book’s blurb. Arlo can reverse whatever he just did. Imagine the possibilities. The mistakes you could fix. The pain you could undo. Who hasn’t imagined what they’d do if they had their life to live all over again. If only …

This book begins at Part 6! I loved that! Given Arlo’s ability to reverse actions it was the perfect touch for me; simple but so smart. I also appreciated the simplicity of the chapter headings, guiding me through Arlo’s life by telling me the age he was during the events of each chapter.

I’m currently surrounded by a constellation of 5 star reviews so am keenly aware that I’m an outlier where this book’s concerned. I absolutely adored the concept, which reminded me not only of the TV series you’ve probably never heard of but also ‘The Butterfly Effect’ and ‘Groundhog Day’. I even thought could detect small traces of ‘Final Destination’.

The first problem was that I really didn’t like Arlo from the beginning. At all. He was arrogant, self centred, immature and lacked empathy. I don’t generally mind not liking characters and I’m usually fairly enthusiastic about loving to hate certain characters, but when the main character is so obnoxious I find it harder to care what happens to them. Sure, Arlo does grow as a character, some of the things I hated about him aren’t as prominent as his story progresses and some positive attributes emerge, but he never became someone I’d want to have a conversation with.

When he begins using his ability, power, gift, curse, genetic abnormality or whatever else you may want to call it, I found myself fairly consistently pleading with him not to be a cliché and then rolling my eyes as he gambled, womanised or otherwise disappointed me. Thankfully he does eventually find more interesting and varied ways to manipulate people and circumstances but the majority of these manipulations are ego driven.

While I learned the facts of a number of characters’ lives I didn’t connect emotionally with anyone. I was definitely interested in finding out more about several but my interest never extended far enough for me to worry about their future or consider reaching for a tissue if their lives encountered anything resembling tragedy. Given my propensity to ugly cry while reading, I was surprised by my lack of emotion.

I found Arlo’s story too drawn out for my liking and found myself getting bored early on. By the end of Part 6 (remember, this was the first part in this novel) I would have abandoned it if I hadn’t committed to reviewing it and temporarily set it aside to read another book before picking it back up again. Had I not continued I would have missed out on the final part, which I found intriguing but predictable. As I was reading I kept thinking that there was only one possible way for this book to end. Nevertheless, I anticipated and hoped for a blindside, but it didn’t happen.

If you enjoy novels that are more character driven, where you experience the excitement and the mundane throughout the years with a flawed main character, you’ll probably really enjoy this book. I expect it will be a popular book club choice, given the questions of morality, philosophy and psychology that it raises. I’d encourage you to check out some 5 star reviews as well before deciding if this book is for you or not.

Content warnings include death by suicide.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group (UK), for the opportunity to read this book.

I enjoyed this book and found it quite unique.
Arlo was a strange and interesting character to follow. I think Heather Child has a raw talent for writing to be able to write such story with a lot of emotion. It makes you think about many things and mortality. The structure of the book is a bit hard to get into, jumps around. I wouldn't be discouraged by it, because eventually the content is worth making the effort,
I'd recommend if you're into books that makes you go back and think about your own experiences, makes you a bit melancholic. I really enjoyed the experience and will think about it for some time to come.
Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for this ARC book.

The cover and story premise pulled me right in with this book, and the story within didn’t disappoint. I really felt for the main character and lived his mistakes and regrets along with him.

A childhood tragedy leaves Arlo scarred and desperate to make things right in his life. He develops an aversion to mistakes and, once he discovers he can go backward, he falls into a habit of rewinding and putting things right. What he doesn’t realise is that the laws of quantum physics continue to operate, and all actions have consequences.

I loved this book and read it quite quickly to say how busy I am, lol. This read has given me a new author to watch out for. I can’t recommend The Undoing of Arlo Knott enough, and it gets a solid 5 stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

I found this book intriguing, creepy in places and a little confusing.

I also found this book quite hard to review. Arlo has the ability to rewind time and he gets tempted to undo more and more. I didn't connect to Arlo but I did enjoy parts of his story and I can understand how he would be tempted to keep rewinding.

Arlo is a strange character and maybe a little insane. I enjoyed reading his life and about his power. I found this book to be engaging once I got into it. It did take me awhile to get into it, as the chapters jump around for example it starts at chapter 6 and then the chapter after that is 13. I thought this was a unique way to tell the story but also a little confusing so it might not be for some people. Also some of the chapters felt a little long. The story was engaging and I wanted to learn more about Arlo and his powers and the writing was okay. I felt the pacing was strange but that might also be because of the chapter jumps.

Overall I did enjoy this book and I would recommend it if it sounds like your kind of thing.

This is a really hard one to review without saying too much. I really enjoyed The Undoing of Arlo Knott. It is unique, a little melancholy at times, but it’s got real heart. It’s almost like a cautionary tale on how to treat your mortality, but with more than life lessons to be learnt. A real gem of a book.