Your violent death usually triggers the first switch. Just before your life ebbs away, your skin happens to touch another human being - and in an instant, your consciousness transfers completely to the person you touched. From that moment on, you can leap from body to body with a touch of the skin. You can remain for a minute, an hour, a lifetime, and after you leave, the host has no memory of the time you were there. My name is Kepler. I could be you. For me, the carefree life of jumping between bodies has become a terrifying nightmare. I am being hunted. I don't know who. I don't know why. If you've read this far, our lives have already touched. Now you are part of the conspiracy too. Get ready to run.
- ISBN:
- 9780356504582
- 9780356504582
- Category:
- Thriller / suspense
- Format:
- Paperback
- Publication Date:
- 24-02-2015
- Publisher:
- Little, Brown Book Group Limited
- Country of origin:
- United Kingdom
- Dimensions (mm):
- 232x153x33mm
- Weight:
- 0.59kg
Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available
Click on Save to My Library / Lists
Click on My Library / My Lists and I will take you there
Reviews
4 Reviews
Well written, keeps the interest successfully and a premise that was new to me. The only reason it's 4 stars rather than 5 is that I read it on the back of the same author's "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" and I found some similarities and overlaps of themes. That shouldn't sound like too much of a criticism though - both are good reads.
“Problem with moving into a new body, you never quite know where it’s been.”
Touch is the second novel by British author, Claire North. The entity known to his/her/its enemies as Kepler has been around for quite some time. And Kepler is not the only entity of this type: a ghost who can move from body to body by touch. Carefully done, this can happen with minimal disruption to lives; of course, long term hosts will find their lives much changed, although Kepler tries to leave them significantly better off. But just as Kepler is settling into a mutually beneficial arrangement with Josephine Cebula, she is shot and killed in a Turkish Metro station, by a gunman who is clearly watching for where Kepler will go next. Who is trying to kill Kepler, and why?
This is a fast-paced thriller that spans over two centuries, and at least three continents. The plot is highly original, taking several turns before reaching a spectacular climax at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. North gives the reader characters who will charm or, in some cases repulse. Their flaws and foibles are realistic and may well have the reader wondering about their own reaction to this sort of immortality. Their dialogue is natural, and the banter between Coyle and Kepler is often snappy and amusing. North gives a whole new meaning to the concept of “estate agent”, and her description of the chase through the museum conjures the image of a Mexican wave. This latest offering by Claire North is clever and often funny, and readers who enjoyed The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August will not be disappointed. Quite brilliant!
With thanks to Hachette and TheReadingRoom for my copy to read and review.
Share This Book: