Barbara's Reviews > The Anomaly

“The Anomaly” by Herve’ Le Tellier, translated by Adriana Hunter, is a international bestseller and the winner of the 2020 Prix Goncourt award. This novel defies genre specification. It’s a literary thriller with speculative fiction that encompasses philosophical and metaphysical elements. Or is it a high-concept mystery thriller? While the novel explores reality, fate, and free will, the bones of the novel structures around a mystery of a transatlantic flight that has the US Federal intelligence agencies scrambling to determine what happened.

The Le Tellier begins this complex story by introducing the reader to various characters. I wished I would have taken notes on each character, or at least book-marked each character. We learn that each of these characters are on a turbulent international flight. Something happened on the flight that caused the full onslaught of the United States government which turns into an international event.

The story begins with character development, and then quickly transitions into something akin to a “Twilight Zone” story. In the “Twilight Zone” portion of the story, Le Tellier explores the meaning of life and existence. This is so heady that the Bostrom hypothesis is involved.

I loved this story, but it might be too “theoretical” for some readers. It’s out there. Special shout-out to the translator, Adriana Hunter, because this reads as if it was written in English from the start.

5 glowing stars for a literary speculative fiction whopper of a tale.