I Am No One

2018 Longlist

Jeremy O’Keefe, a middle-aged Professor, returns to his native New York after a decade teaching at Oxford, and quickly settles into a lonely rhythm of unfulfilling lectures and long, silent evenings.

His quiet world is suddenly shaken by a series of encounters with a strange young man who presumes an acquaintance, and the arrival of three mysterious packages. And when a haunting figure starts to linger outside his apartment at night, his chilling conviction that he is being watched is seemingly confirmed. As Jeremy’s grip on reality shifts and turns, he fears that he will never know whether he can believe his experiences, or whether his mind is in the grip of an irrational obsession.

I Am No One explores the world of surveillance and self-censorship in our post-Snowden lives, where privacy no longer exists and our freedoms are inexorably eroded.

About the author

Patrick Flanery was born in California in 1975 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. He studied Film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and earned a PhD in Twentieth-Century English Literature at the University of Oxford. He contributes articles to a number of academic journals and he has written for Slightly Foxed, the Daily Telegraph and The Times Literary Supplement. His first novel, Absolution, was published to critical acclaim in 2012. He lives in London.

(from publisher)

Librarian’s comments

This is “1984” come true. Partially, at least. Patrick Flanery chillingly shows us how we are all under continuous surveillance, cleverly turning up the tension as the protagonist begins to realise what is going on. Scary and thought-provokingly persuasive that we must all be on guard as we are monitored by Big Brother. Flanery’s clear prose delights as always.