L’Anomalie (The Anomaly)

“L’Anomalie” is a novel that features a diverse cast of characters, each introduced in the first third of the book. These characters include Blake, a hitman leading a double life; Victor Miesel, a writer and translator struggling to find love; Lucie Bogaert, a single mother dealing with her relationship with André Vannier, an architect; David Markle, a pilot with cancer; Sophia Kleffman, a little girl with a war veteran father; Joanna Wasserman, a lawyer for a pharmaceutical company; Slimboy, a Nigerian singer concealing his homosexuality; and Adrian Miller and Meredith, two scientists at Princeton. The author takes the time to present each character’s life and personality in detail, with the first 100 pages dedicated to these introductions. Despite the brevity of each character’s section, they are engaging and relatable. The story kicks off with the introduction of Blake, the cold killer, adding momentum to the narrative.

The pace of the story picks up in the second part of the novel. It becomes clear that David the pilot is presented in two different situations: undergoing cancer treatment and flying through a storm. During this storm, his plane and crew are duplicated, with one copy landing in March and the other three months later in June. The US army fails to recognize the June plane and takes over the case, rerouting it to a military base. As the passengers’ DNA and identity match with their doubles, the army, along with scientists and religious figures, explores the hypothesis that humanity might be part of a computer simulation created by more technologically advanced beings.

This revelation puts the characters, who all have a connection to this flight, in a challenging situation where they have to face their duplicates. Blake escapes military quarantine and kills his second self, while Victor Miesel’s first self writes a masterpiece and commits suicide. Lucie Bogaert fights her double for custody of her child, and André Vannier’s second self advises his first self on how to maintain his relationship with Lucie. As the news of the duplicated flight spreads, panic ensues in the world, as people question the meaning of life and free will in a potential computer simulation.