Reviews

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

shbeezen's review

3.0

only complaints: the way lucie is written is dumb and also the author overestimates how capable and helpful the us government is

bookook's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow. One of the best books I've read in many years, and certainly one of the weirdest. I'm very close to giving it a perfect 5 for ambition alone, but I think I'm still processing and full of adrenaline, and don'  want to inflate it. A really gripping and emotional ending, but a lot of threads that didn't particularly go anywhere or pay off. 

Still, wow. I'm not sure where to begin or how to describe it. You don't learn until almost halfway through the book what "the anomaly" is - i.e., what connects all the passengers of the March Paris/NYC flight. The tension ebbs and flows throughout the book, and characters react in such deeply felt, real, sympathetic ways. Very thought-provoking and interesting. Very excited to read more by this author! 

Reason for the 0.25 dock:

I think there are several characters and sections that feel interesting and like good flavor, but don't actually go anywhere.  Like, Blake and Adrian had big intros, but they and their subplots then fade into irelevance and need to be tidily resolved. E.g., "turns out Blake is super good at his job and FBI doesn't try to find him" feels weird and too convenient.

evadora's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

abbuelita's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

jessfalzon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

latewathen's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

laurzysimpkins's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

shakespearen_sisar's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

3.0

aurianet's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

4.5

wintrovia's review

3.0

The premise for this story is really good but I found the execution didn't quite deliver. After taking quite a long time to get going, the later stages of the story felt a bit rushed. It's a shame, as I think this was a clever idea and elements were very well done even if some strands of the plot didn't land suite so we'll. I feel like this was a good book that could have been excellent with more work and better pacing.