Touch by Claire North

Touch by Claire North is a contemporary fantasy thriller and the British author’s second novel writing under this pseudonym. Under her real name, Catherine Webb has published eight young adult novels, the first of which was written when she was fourteen years old. As Kate Griffin, she has published a further six urban fantasy novels, including the highly praised Matthew Swift series. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, her first novel written as North, was published last year to both great commercial success and critical acclaim. I hope this unique and engrossing new novel brings her even more readers and praise.

Touch is told from the first person point of view of an entity known as Kepler (no gender specified). Timeframes in the novel shift between the main plotline set in the present day and previous events in Kepler’s protracted existence, which ironically started with Kepler’s death. Kepler’s original body was murdered centuries ago, bashed in a brutal mugging. Just before dying, Kepler clutched the assailant’s ankle and somehow ‘jumped’, taking possession of the murderer’s body. Kepler became a ‘ghost’, a being born from a traumatic near death experience. A ghost has no material body of its own, but is a being that is able to shift into the body of another person simply by touching his or her skin, using them as a host. When wearing the skin of a host, a ghost has total control of that person’s body, but it does not have access to the person’s memories, thoughts or emotions.

When a ghost shifts to another host the person it leaves behind has neither memory of the events that occurred during the inhabitation nor generally any knowledge he or she has been possessed. The person simply wakes up confused after experiencing a blackout that seems like a blink in time, but can, in fact, last up to decades in length. A ghost cannot exist outside of a host and can be killed, but only if the body it inhabits dies before it is able to shift to a new host. In flashback scenes throughout Touch we discover that Kepler once worked as an ‘estate agent’, a ghost that specialises in finding, for a fee, hosts that fit certain specifications for other ghosts. In this role, Kepler would find an appropriate host, research his or her background, including medical history and family and other social relationships, and ensuring that the ghost taking acquisition can do so as discretely and safely as possible. Using estate agents and other similar means, ghosts have formed a small and secret community of immortal beings living clandestinely amongst human society, existing by shifting from body to body through the ages.

However, a mysterious organisation known as Aquarius has learnt of the existence of ghosts, and is working to develop a vaccine that will make people immune from possession. This has put them at war with elements of the ghost community, and Kepler has somehow become embroiled in the centre of this conflict. The novel begins with Kepler inhabiting the body of Jospehine Cebula, a prostitute who deliberately leased her body to Kepler for a generous fee. While wearing Cebula’s body, an Aquarius agent, named Nathan Coyle, makes an attempt to assassinate Kepler, somewhat ambitiously, in a crowded subway station in Istanbul. While Kepler manages to avoid Coyle’s assassination attempt, Cebula is not so lucky. Kepler takes possession of Coyle’s body in an effort to uncover the motivation behind the assassination attempt and seek retribution against Aquarius. Kepler’s search for answers leads it across large parts of Europe to New York, and eventually into contact with a dangerous and sadistic ghost named Galileo, who has a shared history with Kepler.

The concept of a ghost taking possession of a person’s body is an idea often regarded as a supernatural trope in the dark fantasy or horror genre. There are certainly well executed elements of those genres in Touch. However, what makes Touch brilliant and unique is that the ramifications of its central conceit are intelligently handled and rationally fleshed out by North with a logical approach that is more akin to science fiction. For example, North considers details about the way ghosts would interact with modern technology such as Facebook or online banking, or how ghosts would react to inhabiting a person with a medical condition, such diabetes or severe allergies. In a book about body shifting, it is fitting that North’s judicious use of detail and texture, enables the reader to shift effortlessly into the mindset of an alien being like Kepler. Kepler lacks many basic features that would make it easily relatable and human, yet it remains a complex and compelling character, that carries the reader effortlessly through the entire narrative. It is a parasite that steals life from people, sometimes just for a moment, but often for stretches that can span years, and motivated by self-preservation and self-interest, it often acts immorally and causes great harm to others. However, these traits are skilfully balanced with many sympathetic qualities, and readers will find themselves empathising with Kepler despite themselves.

It is difficult to talk about the few minor weaknesses in the book without giving away plot twists towards the end of the novel, so readers wary of mild spoilers may wish to skip this paragraph. After temporarily withdrawing from the plot early on, Coyle returns in the later half of the book to become a major character. North works hard to make him sympathetic and redeem him for actions earlier in the narrative. However, I feel readers will struggle to feel any connection or empathy with the character. This is problematic when a sacrifice is made in the novel’s climax, and, as a consequence, this scene does not have the emotional payoff that I believe it is intended to have. For me the final scenes in the novel feel slightly anti-climatic with a resolution that seems somehow both forced and convenient. Adding to this, North conjures up a good deal of intrigue and mystery within the novel, much of which is justifiably and wisely left unresolved. Yet there is a lingering ambiguity relating to the character of Galileo that some readers may fine frustrating and disappointing. However, these are minor criticisms in a book that is clearly the work of a contemporary fabulist producing some of the best work in the genre.

Touch reads like a Bourne spy thriller narrated by an altered version of Octavia Butler’s Doro. The book is written in sharp beats like the throbbing of a pulse, punctuated by flutters of tension and palpitations of violent action. However, it is fitting that lurking under the skin of this novel is something that more than meets the eye. The idea of body shifting is used as a powerful metaphor to explore themes of identity, love, intimacy and the nature of physical beauty. I would recommend Touch to those interested in an intelligent and compulsively readable contemporary fantasy. It is a book that is likely to leave its fingerprint on the reader for sometime after the final page is turned.

Touch by Claire North
Published by Orbit, February 2015
432 pages
ISBN: 0316335924
Review copy received from the publisher
Review by Luke Brown, February 2015

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