The Anomaly, Herve Le Tellier, author; Adriana Hunter, translator, Dominic Hoffman, narrator
This highly acclaimed author has written a bizarre novel that is difficult to get into, but once in, the reader is captured. In a world that is like something out of The Twilight Zone, a plane traveling from Paris to New York City, experiences terrible turbulence and seems to pass through a time warp of sorts. A complete duplicate is created with one plane landing on time and the other landing a few months later.
Apparently, at one time, as a joke, Protocol 42 was created for just this type of unknown and unexplained experience. It is based on Star Wars types theories. The plane and passengers are commandeered and questioned. There are so many mysteries. Which plane is the real plane? Which passengers are the doppelgangers? How is this even possible? What is to be done with the copies? How will they figure out who the copies are, or are we all copies? It is decided, in this world of transparency, that the truth must be told. The people have a right to know. The repercussions are far and wide.
The news of this event causes ripples of madness throughout society, especially in fanatic religious communities where they believe that it is the devil at work. Those involved discover their counterparts and must learn to live with them or create entirely different lives. With the same memories, it will be hard to do. There are now two wives, two mothers, two children, two sexual predators, two murderers, two victims, etc., all of whom just want to go home, home to the place where their doppelganger is now living, unaware of their presence. They have to be notified and brought in to meet their counterparts. Now, one plane lands in March and one in June. Life has continued for those who landed in March, so there are a few months of memories and experiences missing from those who landed later. All these unexpected consequences have to be dealt with by “pseudo scientists” in some cases. Everyone is offered intense counseling.
This is not a great choice as an audio book. It is read well, but it is too confusing. A print version is better. I had to listen multiple times until I finally got a print version to check the narrative. Seven characters are featured and the multiple problems of ordinary life are presented seriously and with humor, since there are times that it is obvious that the author is ridiculing society and certain leaders. Sadly, the politics comes through with the very negative “doppelganger presentation of Trump” , going so far as to compare him to a fat grouper. It was unnecessary and perhaps it will appeal to fanatic left wingers, but other readers will be offended, I am certain. However, the author may have been more prescient than he realized since although he thought Trump would be in the White House, Biden is, and Biden is the President who is not quite fit for office. He has had to bring back many of the successful policies of Trump since Biden’s policies have failed miserably and even threatened our national security. It is obvious that his mental acuity is not up to par. He is definitely aging and there are concerns about his ability to handle difficult decisions. While the author also poked fun at Macron, who is still in office, he was not as harsh with him. Although it is often presented with humorous comments, I, as an American, did not find it funny.
In the book, China has known of this aberration and has dealt with it swiftly and secretively, far differently than the United States. How many other doppelganger plane incidents are out there? How many more will there be? Are we all just copies of each other or originals created by a higher intelligence? Are we an experiment being conducted by an alien society? The idea of multiple people, clones or doppelgangers with the same identity, contrasts with one of the passengers who has many identities and assumes them at will. Most of the passengers, however, did also lead some kind of double life, so the idea of a doppelganger exists in some ways in a reality that resembles science fiction. The novel is preoccupied with death from suicide, illness and murder. It is also fraught with wrongdoing, secrets, lies, cheating, sexual deviance, infidelity, instability and other extreme and criminal behavior. How the author knits all of these themes together is quite the feat of creativity. He even has an author on the compromised plane that is writing a novel with the same name as this one. However, the amount of time I felt confused and had to devote to rereading was inordinate with respect to the pleasure of reading. The translation seems credible and the narration did not distract from the book as it sometimes does when the reader is too emotionally involved.
Because it trashes President Trump, which has become fashionable in the media and publishing world, the book will be widely adored.