The Society of Others

By William Nicholson

“He has nowhere to go. So he goes there.”

T o escape the pressures of family life and alienation from his contemporaries, the unnamed narrator of this existential novel heads out from home to hitchhike without destination. But his journey soon turns into an orgy of violence. A truck picks him up and soon we are at a checkpoint in some totalitarian European state riddled with terrorists. The driver hands the narrator a slip of paper and then tells him to jump — he does, just before the driver is shot and the truck is blown up, revealing its cargo of books.

Thus begins a novel that is part spy story, part philosophical treatise — one that sweeps the reader along. Hypnotic, intellectually challenging, with all the pace and thrust of a thriller, The Society of Others introduces an important novelist with a long career ahead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9780385673051

William Nicholson

WILLIAM NICHOLSON is the author of the acclaimed Wind on Fire trilogy as well as the screenplays for Gladiator and Shadowlands. He lives in Sussex, England. www.williamnicholson.co.uk

Reviews for The Society of Others

[inky500 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

SO GOOD! I thought it would be dystopian, but it deals with modern-day problems without heavily engaging in the relationship between humans and technology. "Life is hard and then you die". I wish I never lost this amazing work!

[tanyatomato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting book - not what I expected at all going into the first chapter. I enjoyed the characters adventures into the unknown though the ending is a bit confusing. I would still recommend it - if only to get someone else to read it and explain the ending to me.