Anyone: A Novel

Every scientific researcher dreams of inventing a world changing drug or process or finding a totally new item but very few actually do. Scientific research generally builds tiny step by tiny step until the accumulation of data and information adds to the general knowledge in a meaningful way. However, every once in a while there is a genuine Eureka moment and then the scientist has to figure out how to devlop the discovery. Sometimes that is the most difficult part especially keeping control over what could be undesirable applications. This book takes a good look at that.

Gabrielle White is conducting neurological research aimed at finding a cure for Alzheimer's Disease using high intensity light. Since she had a baby a year ago she show more has been working out of a lab built in an old barn on the property she and her husband own outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan. A Detroit millionaire has given her a substantial amount of money to conduct her research in return for ownership of any usable technology but the funding has almost gone and he's not likely to renew it. Gabrielle (Gabby) decides to blow all the remaining funds on powering the laser up to full capacity and then suddenly she is in the house looking down at her daughter. Except she feels wrong, clumsy and too big, and that's when she realizes that she is in her husband's body. Learning how to control the "flash" as she calls it so that she can get back into her own body is her first order of business. Once she has finally done that she has to figure out how to prevent this discovery from falling into the wrong hands which includes the man who bankrolled her research. Twenty years in the future a young woman called Annami is working for the Anyone company that controls the flash technology which is used by people all over the world to get places and do things that would have taken time and travel before or not even be possible. The story of what occurred in the intervening 20 years comes out slowly but we know that Annami wants to change the system so it's pretty obvious that Gabby somehow lost control of it.

This was fascinating and a really good look at the pros and cons of world changing discoveries. I couldn't help but think of the two women, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their development of the CRISPR technology. I saw one interview with Doudna who said that she has lost a lot of sleep worrying about how the technology could be misused. If you want a fictional look at a real scientific quandary I recommend this book. show less

Anyone by Charles Soule is a highly recommended, fast-paced, technological/speculative fiction thriller.

In Michigan research scientist Gabrielle (Gabby) White inadvertently discovers a way for people to transfer their consciousness into another person's body. She wants to control how the technology is used, but that very likely will be taken out of her control. Twenty-five-years into the future this technology called "flash" has transformed society. The company advertises the flash as a way to "Be Anyone with Anyone" in the ultimate out-of-body experience. However, there is also an underground black market to the technology called "darkshare," where people rent out their bodies for paying customers to use for a variety of deviant show more purposes. In the future, Annami is renting out her body through a darkshare establishment in order to save enough money for a plan of her own.

Chapters in the action-packed, fast-paced plot alternate between Gabby's discovery and Annami's driven quest to earn money for her own purpose. Both story lines are compelling and both of the characters are well developed. You know something is going to go terribly wrong for Gabby, and Annami is keeping her ultimate scheme to herself. Naturally, you have to set disbelief aside as far as transferring one person's consciousness into another person's body, but once you do that both time periods keep ratcheting up the tension. Ultimately both narratives will connect in an unexpected but satisfying conclusion.

Soule does an excellent job presenting this frightening and fascinating cautionary vision of the future. It could be his work in comic books has translated well into keeping the action of the dual narratives intense and quickly moving, while wrapping both narratives in an irresistible plot. Ultimately, he takes the idea of new technology and forces us to look at the unintended consequences: the abuse of that technology, the morality of using it, and the question of identity and culpability when another body is used.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2019/12/anyone.html show less

Charles Soule outdid himself with his speculative fiction/thriller that is socially impactful and yet a total trill ride, with excellent execution, phenomenal pacing, and I was completely hooked from the very first chapter. Literally, I would try and read while walking through the house, because I could barely manage to drag my eyes away from what was happening in this novel. I also had no idea what was going to happen next, and you know how much I LOVE that...!

That ending though....? Jesus, what a mind- blower. I’m really going to have to think about this ending for a while.
This truly outstanding novel has well thought out characters (one of which is hardcore...!), great villains, some fighting, a little blood, some death, and some show more truly heinous acts that *still* leave me with my mouth hanging open. Man, can Charles Soule write!

Luckily, as soon as I got to about chapter three, I could see I would love this intense novel, and ran for my local library’s online catalog, to see if Soule had written anything else. He has, and I got the audiobook, which I am also listening to, and really like. But this novel is different, and maybe a bit better, imo.

Great quotes:

“If you can't tell who's inside the skin of the person you're talking to, maybe you can't judge them so quickly based on the color of that skin. You have to judge them based on who they are. How they act."

"I am a mother first, then a scientist, a wife, and a black woman. People in my field, people in the grocery store, people in general -- they see that list backward. Maybe they don't see anything at all past the first thing -- a black woman."

5 stars for this thrilling novel, and recommended to anyone and everyone. Please go out and read it now! show less

This is an intriguing novel whose subject is the scientific discovery of a process whereby a person can shift his “being” into the body of another (referred to as a vessel). The process is called “flashing”, and as you can imagine, the ramifications are enormous.

The story proceeds in two threads. The first details the discovery and early stages of development of the flashing process. The other picks up roughly twenty years in the future, and details the many societal changes occasioned by application (and misuse) of the process.

The earlier thread follows the inventor of the process as she struggles to maintain control of its uses, while the venture capitalist (a very evil man) who funded her research seeks to take it from her.

In show more the future thread, the multi-trillion dollar entity that controls the process is very cleverly named NeOne Global (Anyone… get it?). It’s CEO, as you might imagine, wields enormous power, and through manipulation of the flash process, controls what amounts to a world shadow government.

The scientific process that serves as the basis of the novel is certainly intriguing, and allows for many different possibilities, which the author does a good job of exploring. And while the characters can come across as somewhat “cartoonish”, the underlying story is good enough to overcome this fault, in my opinion. show less

An interesting exploration of the social impact of technology. The parallel story lines of the discovery of the ability to project the mind into another body, and the cultural and social impact of that twenty years later is a fascinating approach. There’s a lot of really clever ideas here, some great observational insights, and thought provoking concepts all exceptionally well written; but it failed to engage me on an emotional level, as I gradually noticed I was picking up other things to read and leaving this on the coffee table on a more frequent basis.

Really enjoyed this. Soule is a master of joining interesting tech with characters who are very real. The ending got a little too twisty for me. Unnecessary, since I suspected the "reveal" about a third of the way through and was more interested in how Soule's characters coped with the ramifications of flash technology.

As I neared the end of this book I began to grow worried that Soule was gonna "pull a Sleeping Giants" and make me read another book to get any kind of resolution. And while I'm thankful that didn't happen, I'm also feeling a little unsatisfied with how this ending wrapped up.
As I noted as I began to read this, the habit of underlining words was annoying. I guess it's the same as italics, but if that's true, why not just use italics? What's wrong with italics? I like italics.
Anyway this was a fun read. But I wished Gabby was smarter. And the bad guy wasn't quite so evil. Also I feel like either the author didn't properly wrap up some characters' stories accidentally (which is frustrating) or he left them open-ended so we'd need to read show more a second book (which is more frustrating). Like, for instance, what's up with Eaters? (and yeah I get that the ending sorta negates some of that tension. But people still know what they know, they memorize their passcodes so rich people will still be able to claim their money, etc. But WHY ARE THEY CANNIBALS?
I liked the concept overall-- But then I feel like with 400 pages of story, Soule could have spent a little more time exploring the weirdness of being in another body and some more details concerning the ramifications of the tech.
But, overall, I did enjoy the book. It was a wild ride and, like any decent sci-fi, it gives you some interesting ideas to chew on after you close the book for the last time. show less