2023 Arthur C. Clarke Award (nominee)
A New York Times bestseller and a "Best Thriller of the Year"
Winner of the Goncourt Prize and now an international phenomenon, this dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight.
Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder—the passengers of Air France 006 will find out.
In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane:
Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer.
Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he’s gay.
Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys’ game to succeed with her Big Pharma client.
Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame.
About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar.
In Hervé Le Tellier’s most ambitious work yet, high literature follows the lead of a bingeable Netflix series, drawing on the best of genre fiction from “chick lit” to mystery, while also playfully critiquing their hallmarks. An ingenious, timely variation on the doppelgänger theme, it taps into the parts of ourselves that elude us most.
Genre: Science Fiction
Winner of the Goncourt Prize and now an international phenomenon, this dizzying, whip-smart novel blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight.
Who would we be if we had made different choices? Told that secret, left that relationship, written that book? We all wonder—the passengers of Air France 006 will find out.
In their own way, they were all living double lives when they boarded the plane:
Blake, a respectable family man who works as a contract killer.
Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star who uses his womanizing image to hide that he’s gay.
Joanna, a Black American lawyer pressured to play the good old boys’ game to succeed with her Big Pharma client.
Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet largely obscure writer suddenly on the precipice of global fame.
About to start their descent to JFK, they hit a shockingly violent patch of turbulence, emerging on the other side to a reality both perfectly familiar and utterly strange. As it charts the fallout of this logic-defying event, The Anomaly takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House and a top-secret hangar.
In Hervé Le Tellier’s most ambitious work yet, high literature follows the lead of a bingeable Netflix series, drawing on the best of genre fiction from “chick lit” to mystery, while also playfully critiquing their hallmarks. An ingenious, timely variation on the doppelgänger theme, it taps into the parts of ourselves that elude us most.
Genre: Science Fiction
Praise for this book
"I was completely blown away by this genre-defying masterpiece. Part thriller, part philosophical rumination on what makes us human, and with a dash of theoretical physics; this is an absolute must-read." - Sarah Bonner
"The Anomaly is one and ten novels at once, brilliantly connecting every mystery of intimacy with the great mystery of humanity." - Michel Bussi
"Wow, what an exciting, original blend of theory and heart. It's astonishing. I can't describe it, except to say: read it, and prepare for a whole new perspective on your own existence - and plane travel." - Janice Hallett
"A witty, erudite novel, teeming and minutely detailed, a treat throughout, with-at its centre-that head-spinning conceit that will leave you deep in thought for a long time after reading the final page. It is rare to have so much fun with something so intelligent." - Nicolas Mathieu
"In The Anomaly, Herve Le Tellier has delivered a volatile and compelling thriller that has you hurtling toward the mystery at the heart of the novel from page one. The Anomaly is a gripping and moving blend of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, the television show Lost, with a bit of The Philadelphia Experiment thrown in for good measure. I couldn't put it down." - Terry Miles
"A uniquely, gloriously, provocatively French contribution to the sci-fi thriller genre - it will keep you guessing, get your heart pounding, and make you feel and wonder and - above all - think." - Sam J Miller
"Exhilarating, thought-provoking, funny, and devastating. The Anomaly is unlike anything else I've read this year." - Laure Van Rensburg
"Buckle your seatbelts, as Herve le Tellier takes you on an extraordinary ride. You won't want to put this book down until the very last page!" - Leïla Slimani
"It's a phenomenal read. I loved how it tied together. So clever yet also so gripping." - Harriet Tyce
"The Anomaly is a brilliant balancing act of a novel, a fantastic rush and ride that works on myriad levels, at various depths, and in a multitude of styles. It's a precise and erudite literary treat, a comedic sociopolitical-religious skewering of these contemporary times, a philosophical-scientific-mathematical dive into the puzzles of possibility, space, and time, and an ingenious thought experiment that lends itself easily to ad infinitum analysis and dissection. It's also entirely grounded in human nature. Le Tellier's pointillistic characters are, like all of us, buffeted by desires, seeking love, striving, aging, making good and bad decisions, choosing the right or wrong paths, believing they know and understand themselves, utterly trusting in free will. Highly intelligent, ironic without cheap cynicism, The Anomaly is an immensely fun novel, an immersive experience that leaves the reader analysing everything anew." - Cherise Wolas
"The Anomaly is one and ten novels at once, brilliantly connecting every mystery of intimacy with the great mystery of humanity." - Michel Bussi
"Wow, what an exciting, original blend of theory and heart. It's astonishing. I can't describe it, except to say: read it, and prepare for a whole new perspective on your own existence - and plane travel." - Janice Hallett
"A witty, erudite novel, teeming and minutely detailed, a treat throughout, with-at its centre-that head-spinning conceit that will leave you deep in thought for a long time after reading the final page. It is rare to have so much fun with something so intelligent." - Nicolas Mathieu
"In The Anomaly, Herve Le Tellier has delivered a volatile and compelling thriller that has you hurtling toward the mystery at the heart of the novel from page one. The Anomaly is a gripping and moving blend of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter, the television show Lost, with a bit of The Philadelphia Experiment thrown in for good measure. I couldn't put it down." - Terry Miles
"A uniquely, gloriously, provocatively French contribution to the sci-fi thriller genre - it will keep you guessing, get your heart pounding, and make you feel and wonder and - above all - think." - Sam J Miller
"Exhilarating, thought-provoking, funny, and devastating. The Anomaly is unlike anything else I've read this year." - Laure Van Rensburg
"Buckle your seatbelts, as Herve le Tellier takes you on an extraordinary ride. You won't want to put this book down until the very last page!" - Leïla Slimani
"It's a phenomenal read. I loved how it tied together. So clever yet also so gripping." - Harriet Tyce
"The Anomaly is a brilliant balancing act of a novel, a fantastic rush and ride that works on myriad levels, at various depths, and in a multitude of styles. It's a precise and erudite literary treat, a comedic sociopolitical-religious skewering of these contemporary times, a philosophical-scientific-mathematical dive into the puzzles of possibility, space, and time, and an ingenious thought experiment that lends itself easily to ad infinitum analysis and dissection. It's also entirely grounded in human nature. Le Tellier's pointillistic characters are, like all of us, buffeted by desires, seeking love, striving, aging, making good and bad decisions, choosing the right or wrong paths, believing they know and understand themselves, utterly trusting in free will. Highly intelligent, ironic without cheap cynicism, The Anomaly is an immensely fun novel, an immersive experience that leaves the reader analysing everything anew." - Cherise Wolas
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