Soul Identity

By Dennis Batchelder

Book Overview

You can't take it with you...but what if you could? Most people believe their souls outlive their bodies. Most people would find an organization that tracks their souls into the future and passes on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979805600
• ISBN13: 9780979805608
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Netleaves
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Fun Fast Paced Book - Interesting Premise

The premise of this novel instantly grabbed my attention, well honestly the price did first then the premise! Its a great what if. What if you could pass wisdom down to your future reincarnations? What would you leave to your family and what would you leave to yourself? But that isnt the focus of this novel, its an adventure novel with the aforementioned premise. The story itself centers around someone who thinks the idea is bunk, but is a security expert and is hired as such. The characters were interesting, the story captivating, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Held my attention - fun and believable

I throughly enjoyed this book. I read it in 2 days - about 7 hours. It was totally believable in the actions of all of the participants and the story line was interesting. Just think, would you like to find your soul ancestors? What would you do with the things and info passed to you? I can't wait to read Soul Intent.

I found "Soul Identity" to be a compelling novel with an interesting mythology!

Everyone is interested in the concept of immortality: the idea that our existence doesn't have to end with our death, and that something of us survives to another level or comes back in a new form. Most of these theories are tied to a spiritual idea but Dennis Batchelder's debut novel "Soul Identity" offers a new God-free idea of reincarnation and does so in a very entertaining read. Scott Waverly, a wisecracking security expert well-known for poking holes in his client's systems, is contacted by an organization known as Soul Identity. The organization has a radical mindset: it claims to track the souls of its members through successive generations. Selected to help bring Soul Identity into the digital age, Scott must decide if he believes in their claims of soul connections while at the same time dealing with the machinations of ambitious members. The idea of finding someone's soul through an ocular fingerprint may seem like science fiction, but "Soul Identity" reflects a lot of thought on the author's part to make it believable. Batchelder has written a compelling history for the group that spans ancient Egypt and Alexander the Great, and goes into considerable depth on the faith and interest that draws members into the organization. This depth is backed up by an interesting group of characters and sites, such as a beautiful Russian computer expert, a group of Tibetan Buddhists and an elderly fortune teller with culinary-challenged nieces. Using extensive dialogue, the book creates distinct characters with such traits as Scott's clear familiarity with computer security and the villains penchant for using Latin phrases. Unfortunately, the dialogue is also tied to the main problem I had with the novel: with most pages consisting of at least 50 percent conversation, there is a lack of details such as scenery and description. When the book is focused solely on what people say, it also means that the action of the book is slowed down and the tension tends to fall away. (One personal complaint of mine: it gets a little annoying when every time a character says something in another language they immediately provide a translation as if they were speaking to the reader directly.) Despite this dependence on speech, I found "Soul Identity" to be a compelling novel with an interesting mythology and a sense of humor. Batchelder promises in the endnotes the series will continue, and if the same soul travels from book to book it should be equally engaging.

Soul searching good read!

Scott Waverly is a great hero - he is smart, wise-cracking (reminds me of John Corey), and a security analyst - He is contacted by Soul Identity to do some work for them, and is sent a device to take images of his eyes - instead of doing what they asked, he takes photos of a bluefish's eyes and sends it - His next door neighbor, who had applied for membership is bummed because SI wouldn't admit him because he only has 1 eye - (they think it takes 2 for the whole soul identity thing to work). To help his neighbor, Scott agrees to work for Soul Identity and see what problems need fixing... Turns out that the eyes ARE the mirrors of the soul - and the eyes, like fingerprints, are unique - Soul Identity's members can register their Soul Identities and can bank their money/investments etc for themselves for the next go 'round - in other words - if you are a believer in reincarnation you can have your cake and eat it too! Scott and the good guys at SI soon see the problem and also see that SI needs some tweeking too...Someone within the organization is stealing members away, saying SI doesn't represent the organization anymore - Scott and Soul Indentity members work to get Soul Identity back and stop the bad guys - They go literally all around the world to work out what is going on and take us on this wild ride too! The premise is really interesting and Batchelder's style is so easy you get caught up in the chase - very entertaining book and I look forward to sequels with this great bunch! Very unique premise and deep thoughts and nonstop action - good combination!

Fast paced and believable

This is a very fast moving, compact novel and due to some present time constraints, I had to read it quickly, so I gotta return and give it one more spin. But also, am looking forward to read the next installment. I do ponder the concept of reincarnation with a wistful sense of "who knows, perhaps it's possible," and I liked the way Dennis Batchelder weaved this plot in a logical, no nonsense, smoothly flowing manner. SOUL IDENTITY works on two levels, as a thought-provoking-concept novel, as well as a jolly good suspense-thriller novel. Yes, his hero Scott Waverly is a smart-aleck, but what the heck, I thought deservedly so. You do not need to be a science geek, per se, to understand and enjoy SOUL IDENTITY. Highly recommended reading.