#Titanuary ‘The Nobody People’ by Bob Proehl

About the book…

When a group of outcasts with extraordinary abilities comes out of hiding, their clash with a violent society will spark a revolution—or an apocalypse..

Avi Hirsch has always known his daughter was different. But when others with incredible, otherworldly gifts reveal themselves to the world, Avi realizes that her oddness is something more—that she is something more. With this, he has a terrifying revelation: Emmeline is now entering a society where her unique abilities unfairly mark her as a potential threat. And even though he is her father, Avi cannot keep her safe forever.

Emmeline soon meets others just like her: Carrie Norris, a teenage girl who can turn invisible . . . but just wants to be seen. Fahima Deeb, a woman with an uncanny knack for machinery . . . but it’s her Muslim faith that makes the U.S. government suspicious of her.

They are the nobody people—ordinary individuals with extraordinary gifts who want one only thing: to live as equals in an America that is gripped by fear and hatred. But the government is passing discriminatory laws. Violent mobs are taking to the streets. And one of their own—an angry young man seething with self-loathing—has used his power in an act of mass violence that has put a new target on the community. The nobody people must now stand together and fight for their future, or risk falling apart.

The first book of a timely two-part series, The Nobody People is a powerful novel of love and hope in the face of bigotry that uses a world touched by the fantastic to explore our current reality. It is a story of family and community. It is a story of continuing to fight for one another, no matter the odds. It is the story of us…

I really, really enjoyed reading this book! It sets out a world, not unlike our own, where ‘Resonants’, people born with varying abilities exist.

As usual, non-Resonants or ‘Damps’, plain old humans to you and me, kill and drive out what they don’t undestand, so the world at large is unaware of both Resonants and that’s the way they like it. They all have unique abilities, the one thing they have in common is being able to transport themselves to an almost alternate dimension known as ‘The Hive‘, here. a man named Bishop, not unlike Professor X, has created a safe space, an Academy, where Resonants who tend to activate their abilities when reaching their teens, can firstly become aware that they are not alone, and secondly be offered access to the Academy, where they can learn to control their skills.

It sounds altruistic and sensible, but Bishop is no X, he maintains the population control of Resonants as the more of them there are in one place, the more their powes amplify. They are trying to be stable and known in a world which fears and dreads anything which resembles being more than human.
Into this world comes Avi, a reporter whose story chasing days have decreased to once a year following the loss of his leg in a bombing. His marriage already in knots, torn between his need to track down stories as well as look after his child, Emmeline.When he is apporoached to investigate the bombing of a black church, close to home, he jumps at the chance.

A relatively ‘safe’ story, he finds himself caught up in the world of the Resonants as well as the FBI , who have noticed on the security recordings that it was not necessarily a bomb that destroyed the church. At the same time , Bishop has decided that Avi is exactly who he wants to break the story of the Resonants before they are discovered to be a potential threat to the world. For someone close to home has pinged Bishop’s radar and he is going to need all the help he can get…

A really great opening to a series, I was so excited to find that this is not just a one off novel! inevitable comparisons to the X Men aside, I felt this is a nuanced tale of what it means to be human, more than human and how society treats its outsiders. From the shocking prologue through every gripping page, Bob Proehl has created characters who are flawed, well intentioned, complex and incredibly relatable. It is a thoroughly enjoyable read and I loved it.

Look out for the sequel, ‘The Somebody People’, coming soon!

About the author…

Bob Proehl is the author of The Nobody People and ‘A Hundred Thousand Worlds’, a Booklist best book of the year. He has worked as a bookseller and programming director for Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, New York, a DJ, a record store owner, and a bartender. He was a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction and a resident at the Saltonstall Arts Colony. His work has appeared on Salon, as part of the 33⅓ book series, and in American Short Fiction.

Twitter @bobproehl @TitanBooks