This was incredible. I was a bit apprehensive starting it due to its complex nature but I was in for a wild ride and an even wilder ending. This is one that will stay with me for a while

Review of ‘The Traveler’ by Joseph Eckert, due to be published on 11 June 2026 by  Pan Macmillan, Tor Books.

Scott Treder is travelling to work on 13 April, just a normal day, until the clock hits 7:52am. He finds himself rolling on the road, his car gone and inexplicably it’s now 14 April and he has no recollection of what has happened or where the last 24 hours have gone. 

The next day, at exactly 7:52am Scott slips again, this time for 48 hours. With no idea what’s happening to him, Scott, his wife Amy and son Lyle, realises that his slips are doubling each time, with the reality soon becoming clear that in a matter of days, Scott will be absent from them for years at a time. Lyle is just 7 years old when the slips start, with a curious and intelligent mind he promises his dad that he will work out what’s happening to him. Scott sees him age to be an old man, in a matter of days. 

This was a story quite unlike anything I have ever read before. The time slips take you to new realities as the world changes through decades, centuries and millennia. Eckert takes us through war ravaged lands, machine wars, desolation, the death of civilisation and destruction of the Earth. He also tells us of beauty, creating a universe far beyond anything we could imagine.  Underwritten is Scott’s struggle to understand why him, what’s the purpose of his time slips, can it be stopped and can he go back. 

It was heartbreaking, crazy, poignant and imaginative. For me, it was also a love story between a father and son. It lingers long after the last page, ending a story that is wild, unpredictable and mind blowing.

Well this was certainly different. It was wacky, thrilling and the writer is certainly not short on imagination. Pretty amazing book ,not one you want to put down. Fabolous .

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.