ANYONE by Charles Soule – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Anyone by Charles Soule
Published by Harper Perennial on December 3 2019
Genres: Adult, Science fiction
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A thrilling and completely entertaining read from start to finish, Charles Soule once again knocks it out of the park with Anyone.

Anyone is a December release that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get to by the end of the year, but I’m so glad I decided to pick it up. I had so much fun with this story! Charles Soule wowed me last year with The Oracle Year, and now he’s surpassed himself with this futuristic tale of body swapping and corruption. Anyone reminded me a lot of Recursion by Blake Crouch, partly because both stories deal with a search for the cure for Alzheimer’s, but also because they both have fast-paced, tension-filled and addictive plots that make it hard to stop reading. Blake Crouch fans do not want to miss this book!

The story jumps between two different timelines. Twenty-five years in the past, we are introduced to cognitive scientist Gabrielle “Gabby” White, who is working on a cure for Alzheimer’s from the barn on her property in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gabby has applied for funding through a shady company called Hendricks Capital, which agrees to give her the thousands of dollars necessary to develop her idea, but in exchange, Gabby is forced to sign away all rights to any scientific discoveries she might make. When the story begins, Gabby is about to run out of money, even though she’s very close to success. With enough for one last blast of electricity, which is crucial for her experiments, Gabby is startled when something goes wrong with her equipment and she suddenly winds up in her husband Paul’s body.

After the initial shock, Gabby realizes that she’s about to change history with her discovery: the ability to transfer a person’s consciousness from one body to another. Gabby is able to reverse the experiment and go back into her body, but she and Paul know they must keep this amazing discovery a secret from Gray Hendricks, the owner of Hendricks Capital. This is Gabby’s discovery, after all, and she knows it will ultimately be worth billions.

Twenty-five years later, the flash, as Gabby’s technology is called, is a part of daily life for millions of people. NeOnet, or “Anyone” as the company is called, controls and monitors legal flashes that have changed lives around the world. But there is an illegal and unmonitored type of flash called the darkshare, where people give up control of their bodies in exchange for thousands of dollars a pop. The catch? In the darkshare, you don’t have any knowledge or control over what your body is used for. In this underground world we meet a young woman named Annami who is about to use darkshare for the first time. Annami is desperately trying to raise a large amount of money in order to participate in an upcoming auction, but when her darkshare session goes terribly wrong, she finds herself on the run. Annami knows a secret about the flash that she wants to share with the world, but in order to survive long enough to do that, she needs to outwit the men who are after her.

These two timelines gradually converge in some shocking ways, as we learn about the history of the flash’s development and the ramifications of its use in the future. There are a lot of surprises in Anyone that I don’t want to give away, so that’s all I’m willing to share in this review. I had so much fun trying to guess the connection between Gabby and Annami, and although I did sort of guess part of it, I was completely surprised by the rest! Soule does a great job of keeping the reader guessing, which makes this book nearly impossible to put down.

I found both timelines to be equally entertaining. I loved the scientific experimentation, the failures and successes, that Gabby experiences in her research, as well as the situation she finds herself in when she realizes she’s probably made the discovery of the century. Gabby understandably wants to keep control of that discovery and shape its development herself, rather than turn it over to a man who might choose to take it in another, more sinister, direction.

And Annami’s storyline delves into straight-up thriller territory, full of danger, violence, and some very exciting chase scenes. Annami is much more than she appears to be on the surface, and it was a blast getting to know her secrets. She’s also extremely smart and knows the ins and outs of flash technology so well that she seems able to outwit just about every shady character who is trying to kill her.

The idea of flash technology is fascinating, and the author has created a detailed world where people can do such things as flash into someone else’s body in another country for a vacation, for example, without having to take a long airplane flight. The company motto is “Be anyone with Anyone,” and that’s exactly why it’s so appealing. A vigorous economy has grown around the technology, which has made life easier and more exciting, although there are rules, of course. One unbreakable rule is that if one body dies during a flash, the other body dies as well.

I do have a couple of minor complaints. First, the science part of flashing is never thoroughly explained, so you will have to suspend your disbelief for parts of the story. This didn’t really bother me that much, because the story of Gabby and Annami is so engaging, but those who love their sci-fi on the hard side might have issues with this. I also found parts of the story to be a little confusing. The idea of body swapping is enough to make your head spin to begin with, but there were times in the story when I mixed up the characters because of this swapping. Also, the action in the last third of the story is crazy and you do have to pay attention to keep up with it.

But despite these minor quibbles, Anyone is that rare story that not only offers up a thrilling plot, but gives readers a lot to think about as well. There is plenty of food for thought as Soule explores the various pros and cons of flash technology. My favorite SF stories are the ones that ask lots of questions about the morality of future technology while letting readers come to their own conclusions. Anyone does that brilliantly and also gives readers a whopper of an entertaining story. This is a must read for fans of science fiction thrillers!

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.