As a writer, reading a good book – I mean one where the talent of the author really shines through – can produce simultaneous reactions: envy and inspiration (okay, occasionally despondency). Currently I’m reading The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier, a bestselling science fiction thriller, that many would read far quicker than me, but I tend to study and reread instead of simply enjoying the ride.
I’m rarely one to review or promote popular novels, such that they’d ever need my contribution (the screen adaptation rights have already been sold) but here’s an exception.
I try not to view other writers/authors as competition. And here is a chance to study how it’s done so well (if not perfectly). How can he break so many ‘rules’ of contemporary fiction – such as head-hopping within a chapter and many POVs, not all of them likeable, even occasionally slipping into author omniscience – yet still produce something that is cogent and coherent enough to keep the reader utterly absorbed. I guess it’s the old adage about mastering the rules to know how to break them, or perhaps as a French to English translation you subconsciously allow more latitude.
I’m always obsessed by what makes a great work of fiction. The Anomaly seems to achieve it’s (you might say) lofty ambition, gripping as a thriller with the depth of a literary novel, but also a serious take on SF concepts such as simulation theory. To appreciate a book on different levels is a rare thing. Not that many writers set out to write just a good yarn even if that’s what they modestly claim; though maybe as a reader I expect too much, to not just be entertained but find solace in fiction, to relate to that which at first glance seemed barely relevant to my life. Science fiction, of course, has this problem – something I’ve grappled with as a reader and a writer struggling with the [hopefully] final draft of The Chosen. The premise can seem like high concept, but, as exemplified in The Anomaly, you can be surprised at the depth of characterisation and literary sensibility as well as the science.
You can check out my published fiction, linked below.
My published books:
The Captured (US) The Captured (UK)
The Trials of Writing & Publishing 