The plot derives from the realm of the fantastic, with a quirk in the rules of physics resulting in a doubling of a plane and its passengers, one landing 106 days later in June 2021 after the already landed version of March 2021. As you can imagine, the plane is filled with people from different countries, backgrounds, skills and situations in life: a Nigerian homosexual pop star, a girl who loves her frog, a lawyer, a professional assassin, a movie editor, a famous architect, a terminal pancreas cancer patient, ... The characters used for their narratives all have one thing in common: they believe they have a secret life that nobody is aware of, which becomes of course a challenge when suddenly their doubles appear on the scene.
Le Tellier tells their double stories, their true natures and their shadow natures, in this way demonstrating the chance event of how the same people might react differently and how often futile the sense of self is.
Apart from the gimmick of the doubling of the characters, their stories can stand on their own, as commentaries of our everyday life in the 21st century, our little petty attitudes and the decisions made in the grand scheme of things, including the geopolitics and the fear of a new weapon devised by the enemy.
The story is both entertaining and profound, well-written without any stylistic pretence.
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