Clare L. Deming

This book was a random choice for me and turned out to be one of the best books I read this year. Anyone by Charles Soule is a page-turner that asks how the world would be different if you could transfer your consciousness into another person. I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story in Anyone occurs in two separate timelines. One of these follows Gabriella White, a brilliant neuroscientist, as she works in her home laboratory and accidentally transfers her consciousness into her husband’s body. She immediately realizes the potential ramifications of such a technology and, after figuring out how to return to her own body, fights to make sure that her discovery doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

The second timeline falls twenty-five years later. Annami is a young woman working for the corporation that runs all of the world’s “flash” technology, through which Gabby’s discovery allows customers to hop into other bodies all over the world. Annami is living some sort of double life and has plans for revenge. Initially, her motivations are unclear, but as the book unfolds, the separate plots come together and we learn how the world (and Annami) evolved to reach their current state.

Anyone is not a light-hearted book and the characters suffer through some devastating events. Annami starts out by renting her body out through the darkshare underworld to make a huge amount of cash quickly. She has no say in what happens while in that state and the risks are high. The world depicted in Anyone is dark, and people use the flash for all kinds of underhanded and sinister purposes.

The two separate stories of Gabby and Annami contrasted well and filled in details about the flash technology in a complementary way, making the novel flow well. There is plenty of action to be had, and I found the book hard to put down. The characters also embody a nice amount of diversity that I don’t see as often as I would like.

The revelation at the conclusion was well-done in that it was shocking as I realized what was going on only shortly before the characters did. The only criticism of this book that I can really have was that I thought that the ending was a little abrupt after that.

While I haven’t read any other books by Charles Soule, I will be looking out for his work in the future. If you’d like to support my blog, use this Amazon affiliate link (at no extra charge to you) to buy a copy of Anyone.

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