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4.5 

The Essence

By Dave Hutchinson
The Essence by Dave Hutchinson digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

There is a phenomenon – a force, a spirit, a flaw in Reality – known as the Essence, which can manifest at random, often with dire effect.

Michael Brookes, an economist working for a small outstation of MI6 attached to the Treasury, is sent to the Netherlands by his department, where he narrowly escapes being kidnapped; and that's just the start of his problems. Michael has never heard of the Essence, but some very powerful people believe otherwise. Despite his protestations, they will stop at nothing to discover what he knows.

The problem is that Michael, who is recovering from a catastrophic breakdown, has large gaps in his memory... So he can't rule out the possibility that they might be right.

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The Essence Reviews

4.5
“British writer Hutchinson established himself as a talented writer with his Europe series in 2014-18, a hybrid SF/spy thriller. His brand new book, just published on Dec 9, is bracingly original, with the closest comparison I can think of being Christopher Priest's The Glamour (1984) which I read earlier this year. Like that book, our hero Michael Brookes is in a hospital with a large gap in his memory. He's an economist working for MI6, and though he's unsure he's fully recovered, let along restored his memory, they give him a sensitive assignment to the Netherlands. There, it turns out multiple groups from France, Denmark and the United States very badly want to kidnap him and extract information about a phenomenon referred to as the Essence -- seemingly supernatural events that have occurred throughout history, but are becoming documented more frequently as more people have access to cameras. He has no idea how they found him, or why they want him, which suggests that someone know more about himself than he does. The book ends up with more metaphysical and philosophical questions than answers, along the lines of Philip K. Dick. It definitely has me eager to check out his previous work to see if I might have a new favorite author.”

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