You need to be in the mood for a fast, addictive read with this one.  It is not a leisurely, immersive story.  It lasted me just one day.

Scott is a rather ordinary man having a routine day, a little late to work, on the freeway when it happens for the first time.  The world just sort of slips and suddenly his car is gone but he’s still going twenty-five miles an hour.  It isn’t pretty but he doesn’t break anything. But it’s now the next day.  His texts are full of worry from his wife and his boss.  His car is destroyed as when it became driverless the day before it just crashed into another car. And he has no idea what just happened.  It is, of course, impossible for his wife to comprehend.  And then it happens again; the next morning at the exact same time.  But this time it takes him two days to come back.  And, again, his texts blow up from both his wife and his boss.  He ignores the boss.

The third morning, Amy waits with him and actually sees him disappear.  It was not a comfort to either of them.  Scott and Amy have a seven-year-old son, Lyle; an extremely intelligent little boy who decides that he will understand what is happening and, perhaps, be the one to save his father.  After four days on this third instance, Scott thinks they might need to consult someone with a bit more ability to explain this. So they hie off to the local university and find a physics professor who is crazy enough to indulge them and willing to witness Scott disappearing the next morning.  But indulging an obvious delusion and actually witnessing it turned out to be two rather different experiences for the man who hysterically ordered Scott out when he reappeared eight days later.  But a more senior theoretical physicist was much more willing to examine and test Scott.  Unfortunately, her equipment did nothing more than record the instant he disappeared and reappeared; nothing else registered.  It was Lyle who observed that each instance doubled the time Scott was gone.  Simple math made it obvious how devastating this would prove to be. 

There was no point in returning to a job and Scott decided he’d rather spend his fragmented life with his family.  For him, the time passed in an instant but for Amy, the time lost was terrifying.  The longer this went on and the longer the absences went on, the less Amy was able to cope.  It didn’t help when students present at the university instance sold the information and video footage to the media; who immediately branded him a charlatan.  And there was still no explanation as to how or why this was happening to him.

After an absence of several years, Amy met him with divorce papers; desperate to have order back in her life and a need to protect Lyle.  He refused and the next time he returned, she was gone.

As the years progress, his son ages.  He does eventually find them again but his son is now in his teens, then his twenties, then fifties.  Lyle had found his life’s calling after the teasing glimpse he had in the physics lab in his childhood.  He’s still determined to understand what’s happening and save his father.  As technology improves, he’s able to provide Scott with protective gear and weaponry but he can’t protect him from everything.  Even though the media declared it all a hoax, there were people who became believers. There always are… And they tend to become fanatics.  Following right behind them, are the deniers who are also fanatics but might tend to be a bit more…violent.

In the meantime, the world situation continues to be more volatile; as it always seems to do, with or without Scott’s influence.  One time when he comes back, there are assassins waiting to kill him which would have happened had Lyle not sent troops to protect him.  And Lyle is so old that he has little time left to continue to protect his father so he does the next best thing.

Lyle creates a religion that centers on The Traveler, the name coined for Scott.  Scott is, of course, appalled and protests but Lyle is convinced that it is the only thing that will last long enough to give Scott protection.  He sets it up so that his adherents will be there to greet Scott each time he reappears; and provide safety and help.  But the doubling absence time makes it difficult for many to keep the faith through generations.

At this point, the story is bounding ahead through eons so quickly it reminded me of the scene in The Time Machine.  Scott only had twenty-four hours each time to learn what had changed and like The Traveler in that Wells’ story, things got weirder and weirder.  He saw civilizations rise and fall and through it all, for a long, long time, he encountered Lyle’s descendants who were still able to help although that diminished in time. 

Machine intelligence rose up and it almost seemed like an explanation for this event was within his grasp.  But the doubled time only served to show that everything eventually faded; nothing lasted forever.  There were moments of abject horror and primitive societies and then the next stop would have a glorious utopian civilization. Actually, the latter happened a couple times.  And each of those times, he desperately wished to stop but no one could help.  They were able to provide marvelously new ways to protect his body, which helped.

Theories abounded but no one and nothing could explain what was happening.  If it hadn’t been for Lyle’s planning for the future, Scott might not have been able to keep going.  Perhaps it was innate curiosity to see what would finally happen but Scott continues.  For him it’s been a mere few weeks of his life but for humanity, it’s been eons.

Any reader would know that there had to be a payoff at the end; an explanation for us, if not for Scott.  I was just very unsure if I would be happy with it.  There is a major plot point that I have deliberately avoided as it would be a major spoiler and I want there to be something future readers to look forward to.  I didn’t exactly ‘buy it’ but it was a comfort.  And the end, and the reason?  No, I can’t go there. 

It was good entertainment; somewhat as a Dan Brown story is.  ~~  Catherine Book