Touch
Ratings51
Average rating3.8
For anyone that knows me or has talked about books with me for any length of time, it's no secret that I love this book. It's brilliantly written, straddles the line between genre and literary fiction, and has Something to Say about the world.
And—for me, at least—it's nearly impossible to put down.
Claire North has a gift for taking a concept that could be fairly simple in nature and exploring it from every possible angle. In this case, it's the ability to possess people, to slip into another's skin and live their life as a “ghost”.
Does a host's right to freedom supersede a ghost's right to live? Does manipulating people with no better options make body snatching morally acceptable? And if you hop from body to body for centuries, what happens to your sense of identity? These are just a few of the concepts touched upon in the book.
The prose is relatively straightforward, yet delivers line after memorable line. As I was listening to the audiobook, I often found myself rewinding to catch a subtle line that only fully impacted me a minute or two later.
I want what everyone wants. Something better.
One of the most unique aspects of the novel is its structure. North is a master of nonlinear storytelling. There are frequent flashbacks to previous lives Kepler has inhabited, and these often don't seem immediately relevant to the plot. While they always serve to build Kepler's character and introduce key players for later in the story, it can be a bit jarring at times.
The other unique aspect is the dialogue. I have never encountered another author with North's gift for instantly characterizing someone in a single spoken line. Sometimes ambient dialogue is used to explore a theme or describe a new setting, and the result is incredibly effective.
Do you like what you see?
The plot itself is probably the least important aspect of the novel. But that doesn't mean it isn't compelling. The opening scene shows Kepler hopping from body to body in a crowded train station, desperately trying to escape an assassin. Against all reason, the assassin knows about Kepler's ability and tries to track them through the crowd.
While Kepler escapes, the body they'd been wearing for months does not. Kepler had grown to love Josephine, and they vow to seek revenge against the secret organization responsible for her murder. The journey that follows is North's most thrilling tale yet, and the villain is one of the more disturbing I've read.
For those of you who enjoy audiobooks, this is one of the best I've ever listened to. Peter Kenny (of The Witcher and Culture fame) does the narration, and it's delightful. Every time Kepler switches a body, Kenny shifts his voice to match the accent, gender, age, and dialect. And yet each of these many voices still captures the essence of Kepler, lending the character a cohesion that might not be possible through any other narrator. It doesn't hurt that Kenny's voice is just incredibly easy to listen to.
This is a fantastic book, and if I haven't already driven the point home, I absolutely love it. If a speculative literary thriller with phenomenal worldbuilding and critical insights into humanity sounds intriguing to you, I cannot recommend this book enough.
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Another very good Claire North book. Unique imagined scenario where a “ghost” is moving from body to body via touch taking over their consciousness.
If you saw the movie Fallen, the premise of touch may be familiar – a special being that can transfer to another body and effectively “take control” of it. Where this story differs from the thriller, is that it focuses on many people with this ability and how they cope and adapt. I loved how this story went into the real world implications of this concept. How could you grow old in someone elses body, denying them life? If you have no conscience that's one thing, but for good people this ability sounds more like a curse.
Where it fell short for me was a connection with the characters. With Claire Norths other book,The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, I was constantly worrying about what would happen, and feeling for the characters. In this one I didn't have the same connection. An interesting topic, and well explored but the connection with the characters left me feeling like something was missing.
If you saw the movie Fallen, the premise of touch may be familiar – a special being that can transfer to another body and effectively “take control” of it. Where this story differs from the thriller, is that it focuses on many people with this ability and how they cope and adapt. I loved how this story went into the real world implications of this concept. How could you grow old in someone elses body, denying them life? If you have no conscience that's one thing, but for good people this ability sounds more like a curse.
Where it fell short for me was a connection with the characters. With Claire Norths other book,The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, I was constantly worrying about what would happen, and feeling for the characters. In this one I didn't have the same connection. An interesting topic, and well explored but the connection with the characters left me feeling like something was missing.
Hmmmm. Similar feelings about this to North's last book. It's well done, engaging and kept me reading. But it's just not original. Just as ....Harry August had the same basic idea as Ken Grimwood's Replay, the device at the core of this one is lifted from the movie Fallen. I'm not throwing around accusations of plagiarism - both novels go in very different directions from the works I've mentioned - but the shadow of those earlier works hangs over both books. It's impossible for me to read them without harking back to the other. I'd love to see what Claire North could do with an idea that hadn't been done before.
Quantum Leap + The Girl With the Dragon Tatto + (a dash of) Sherlock. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Pros: fast paced, complex, interesting morally ambiguous characters, thought provoking, several international locales
Cons: took a while to get into
When Josephine Cebula is gunned down at Taksim station, the ghost riding her flesh jumps to a new host in order to follow the man who, though obviously after the ghost and aware it left the body, for some reason made sure that Josephine died. It's quickly apparent that a secret organization is hunting ghosts, and ‘Kepler' is their current target.
The book begins with a murder and catapults you through several countries in various bodies as ‘Kepler' (named so by its hunters) tries to figure out who's after it and why. Flashbacks to earlier lives show other murder attempts, other lives, other ghosts and how they all deal with the flesh they wear.
The idea of beings that can transfer between bodies isn't a new one, but North does some great things with it. I loved that the ghosts were all individuals, treating their flesh in different ways. Some, like Kepler, are respectful, learning about them, and offering them money and improved circumstances for the time they lose. Others are less concerned with the humans around them, wanting to glory in the achievements, beauty and wealth of others without putting any effort into learning the skills necessary to achieve anything of their own. I liked that the ghosts can't access the memories or abilities of their flesh, meaning they can pretend to be that person, but only with effort on their part to learn the habits and skills of their borrowed flesh. I also liked that the people they take over have no memory of what's happened to them. This allows them to be tracked while also making what the ghosts do - stealing time from their hosts - more insidious. Kepler argues at one point that most people don't care - or are even happy - to lose an hour or two of their lives, especially when working or doing boring tasks. Few people would even notice if they were taken over for a minute or two, long enough for the ghost to get lost in a crowd. But consider the ghost that stays for 6 months or a year. What about 10 years? Or 30? Who'd be ok with losing that amount of their lives?
And what happens when you're effectively immortal, but unable to have a home, loved ones, possessions? What does that kind of lifestyle do to you after hundreds of years, when you're constantly moving from body to body, running from hunters or just bored of who you are?
The book asks some tough questions as none of the primary characters - except the main antagonist - is entirely good or evil. There's so much grey area and you really get to know - and like - the characters that it's hard to remember that this all started with a murder, and that Kepler, who seems so kind and loving, has done some horrible things in its past - depending on your point of view.
Because there's so much to learn about the ghosts, the killer and the plot, I found the opening slow. Not in terms of things happening, but in terms of trying to get a handle on everything that was happening. By the time I had a grasp on things I was thoroughly invested in Kepler and so drawn into the story that it was hard to put the book down.
I'd recommend this for book clubs as there's a lot of discussion possibility here. And if you like action and mystery with body hopping protagonists, give this a try.