07/22/2019
Comics artist Soule’s second novel (after The Oracle Year) is a suspenseful tale built on the back of an existential crisis around the nature of human consciousness. In the present day, chemist Gabrielle White stumbles across an intriguing new technology that lets her transfer her consciousness into her husband’s body. Interwoven into this narrative is another taking place 25 years in the future, when this new technology, dubbed “flash,” has become commonplace, and flash prostitute Annami chronicles her experiences as a vessel for the minds of anonymous users. Soule draws readers into a brave new world where identities are meaningless and manipulation and control are the name of the game. As the two tales twist and merge together, Soule pits his protagonists against the cutthroat denizens of the corporate world. Present-day concerns about technology, privacy, and anonymity are projected into a dystopian but plausible future. Although the dual narratives are sometimes unwieldy, the novel is fast-paced and suspenseful. Soule’s uncomfortable vision of the future will please readers of cutting-edge speculative fiction. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company. (Dec.)
Fast-paced and suspenseful. Soule’s uncomfortable vision of the future will please readers of cutting-edge speculative fiction. ” — Publishers Weekly
“An imaginative, time-fragmented thriller about the bitter and potentially deadly consequences of body-snatching. Readers won’t feel that they’re on the edge of their seats as much as they’re on a balance beam above a pit of lava while trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube.” — Kirkus Reviews
“With his second novel, Anyone, Charles Soule establishes himself as an author that readers of speculative fiction will love for years to come. The book will leave you thinking about gender, power, and what it means to be human for long after the final chapter.” — Jennifer Wright, author of Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes That Fought Them
“Soule has wrapped a sharp, prescient investigation of the human mind inside a breakneck thriller that will have you riveted until the very last twist. Anyone is truly a book for everyone.” — Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M
“I spent much of my childhood inside DARPA, where my father was Deputy Director, and this book captures the imagination and double-edged sword of our greatest scientific leaps. The same technology that can cure the world’s ills might also cause us to spiral into our own greed, selfishness, and vanity. Charles Soule’s Anyone is a remarkable, consequential novel and a terrifying wake-up call.” — Susan Henderson, author of The Flicker of Old Dreams
“A scientist's experiment gone wrong leads to a technology, called "flash," that changes the world. Charles Soule (The Oracle Year) gives this conventional sci-fi theme a rollicking 21st-century update in Anyone... . . Fans of N.K. Jemisin will devour this mind-bending novel.” — Shelf Awareness
“Anyone is an intense, superbly crafted, edge of your seat thrill ride. I loved the two slowly converging storylines, not to mention the most dedicated, hardcore character I’ve read in a long, long time. Who would you be if you could be anyone? I’d really like to be Charles Soule and have written this book.” — Sylvain Neuvel, author of Sleeping Giants
”Explosive” — Booklist
”Explosive”
A scientist's experiment gone wrong leads to a technology, called "flash," that changes the world. Charles Soule (The Oracle Year) gives this conventional sci-fi theme a rollicking 21st-century update in Anyone... . . Fans of N.K. Jemisin will devour this mind-bending novel.
I spent much of my childhood inside DARPA, where my father was Deputy Director, and this book captures the imagination and double-edged sword of our greatest scientific leaps. The same technology that can cure the world’s ills might also cause us to spiral into our own greed, selfishness, and vanity. Charles Soule’s Anyone is a remarkable, consequential novel and a terrifying wake-up call.
Soule has wrapped a sharp, prescient investigation of the human mind inside a breakneck thriller that will have you riveted until the very last twist. Anyone is truly a book for everyone.
With his second novel, Anyone, Charles Soule establishes himself as an author that readers of speculative fiction will love for years to come. The book will leave you thinking about gender, power, and what it means to be human for long after the final chapter.
Anyone is an intense, superbly crafted, edge of your seat thrill ride. I loved the two slowly converging storylines, not to mention the most dedicated, hardcore character I’ve read in a long, long time. Who would you be if you could be anyone? I’d really like to be Charles Soule and have written this book.”
”Explosive”
2019-09-15
A woman searching for a cure to an unfathomable disease accidentally makes a breakthrough that will change the world.
Talented comic book writer Soule's debut novel (The Oracle Year, 2018) was a serious brain bender, enjoyable as a twisty, well-written paranormal thriller and, more importantly, one of those books you find yourself thinking about days later. So, brace yourself—this book is even more merciless in that regard. Readers won't feel that they're on the edges of their seats as much as they're on a balance beam above a pit of lava while trying to solve a Rubik's Cube. First things first: In the present day, brilliant scientist Gabby White is independently working on a cure for Alzheimer's in her barn in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One jolt of a laser later and she finds that she's beamed herself into her husband Paul's body while her own self might just be dead. Whoa, indeed. This would be enough of a launch pad for a techno-thriller by itself but then Soule jumps ahead a quarter-century to a near future where Gabby's breakthrough, now branded the "flash," has not only transformed society for well-meaning citizens, but also for a deeply perverted underground, the "darkshare," that rents out people's bodies for a variety of deviant purposes. We're introduced to Annami, a spy who needs to put together $1 million or so in a month in order to win an auction to occupy one of the world's biggest celebrities, for her own secretive purposes. There are plenty of villains here as well, among them Sara Kring, Gabby's lawyer, who sells her out, and Annami's body-jumping nemesis known only as "Bleeder." Like the tick-tock of a metronome, Soule oscillates between Gabby's dilemma and Annami's mission until we reach an unexpected but satisfying convergence between the two.
An imaginative, time-fragmented thriller about the bitter and potentially deadly consequences of body-snatching.
