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Absence
In this gripping, moving, and genre-blending speculative debut, the world is unraveling from an epidemic of human vanishing. Two rookie agents from the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs are dispatched to small-town Kansas to investigate a woman who claims to have returned from Spontaneous Human Absence, offering answers that could change everything.
People are “popping”—disappearing, one by one, into thin air: an ongoing global cataclysm known as Spontaneous Human Absence. In a world where prospects for survival are increasingly grim, hopelessness prevails, political rifts widen, and doomsday predictions flourish.
Harvey Ellis works the night shift for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, an ad hoc federal agency meant to contain and catalog the crisis. Harvey’s job: to investigate claims of Absence, and, if validated, issue a standard government stipend to boost morale. Still recovering from losses of his own, Harvey is content in his routine—until his life is shaken by an unexpected assignment from the central office.
A woman long thought Absent has reappeared in her hometown of Dawnville, Kansas, claiming she’s been to the other side and back. But is her wild and irresistible account true, or is she just the latest false prophet, offering hope to a world desperate for it? Together with his no-BS partner, Shonda Erins, Harvey travels to Dawnville to find out.
A resonant portrait of a world beset by confusion and dismay, Andrew Dana Hudson’s debut is a vividly imagined novel of cosmic proportions, examining life in a time of exception and the stories we tell to get by.
People are “popping”—disappearing, one by one, into thin air: an ongoing global cataclysm known as Spontaneous Human Absence. In a world where prospects for survival are increasingly grim, hopelessness prevails, political rifts widen, and doomsday predictions flourish.
Harvey Ellis works the night shift for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, an ad hoc federal agency meant to contain and catalog the crisis. Harvey’s job: to investigate claims of Absence, and, if validated, issue a standard government stipend to boost morale. Still recovering from losses of his own, Harvey is content in his routine—until his life is shaken by an unexpected assignment from the central office.
A woman long thought Absent has reappeared in her hometown of Dawnville, Kansas, claiming she’s been to the other side and back. But is her wild and irresistible account true, or is she just the latest false prophet, offering hope to a world desperate for it? Together with his no-BS partner, Shonda Erins, Harvey travels to Dawnville to find out.
A resonant portrait of a world beset by confusion and dismay, Andrew Dana Hudson’s debut is a vividly imagined novel of cosmic proportions, examining life in a time of exception and the stories we tell to get by.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
April 29, 2026
I adore speculative fiction and this book truly delivers!! In this world, people randomly disappear, literally popping out of existence. We follow Harvey, a federal agent with the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs. He gets a special assignment to investigate a person claiming to have returned after popping. While investigating the claim, Harvey has to contemplate his own beliefs about popping and the afterlife.
The world building in this book is superb. You’d think a book set in Kansas really wouldn’t need a lot of world building but you’d be wrong. Hudson sets up a Kansas that is straining under division and desperation and hope. You feel what the characters are feeling and you can understand their emotions.
The story does kind of drag around the 60% mark. It is still good and I was engaged but it felt long then. It eventually picked back up and the ending was fantastic. If you enjoy speculative fiction, you need to pick up this book!!
Thank you to Soho Press for the ARC of this novel!!
The world building in this book is superb. You’d think a book set in Kansas really wouldn’t need a lot of world building but you’d be wrong. Hudson sets up a Kansas that is straining under division and desperation and hope. You feel what the characters are feeling and you can understand their emotions.
The story does kind of drag around the 60% mark. It is still good and I was engaged but it felt long then. It eventually picked back up and the ending was fantastic. If you enjoy speculative fiction, you need to pick up this book!!
Thank you to Soho Press for the ARC of this novel!!
May 5, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Absence made me feel pretty... conflicted. I was in a small reading slump for the last two, maybe three weeks, constantly jumping between books, reading few pages a day and then just putting them down, despite really wanting to read (thanks, brain).
I couldn't sleep, so I made myself some tea, grabbed my phone and opened Absence and to my surprise, the reading slump that clung to me till now simply... poofed (was it a pun? maybe). The first... probably one-third of the book? I totally lost track of the time and before I knew it, I was deep into the story.
The premise had me hooked from the start. I mean, the idea of people disappearing into thin air and no one really knows why? Not to mention, that it's happening all over the world and you can be gone in the blink of an eye, right in front of other people? Obviously, it's going to cause panic, the constant fear, that it can happen to you or your loved ones... and what exactly happens once you're one of the victims of Spontaneous Human Absence? Some will use it as an excuse to escape, vanish and hope no one will be looking for them, others can use the epidemic to cover-up their crimes.
All of the above were my thoughts before and during reading, at least until somewhere around halfway, when the book slowly started to lose me, despite how much I was enjoying it at first. I'm not even fully sure, what caused it: the amount of informations that it started to throw at us at some point? one of the parts that didn't really feel like they add much into the story, beside being a filler? or maybe it was the fact, that I expected a bit more of sci-fi things from a novel labeled as sci-fi?
Probably, it was a bit of all three and I won't be able to point at the main culprit. I'm just sure, that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, when I was at the beginning of the book.
Absence made me feel pretty... conflicted. I was in a small reading slump for the last two, maybe three weeks, constantly jumping between books, reading few pages a day and then just putting them down, despite really wanting to read (thanks, brain).
I couldn't sleep, so I made myself some tea, grabbed my phone and opened Absence and to my surprise, the reading slump that clung to me till now simply... poofed (was it a pun? maybe). The first... probably one-third of the book? I totally lost track of the time and before I knew it, I was deep into the story.
The premise had me hooked from the start. I mean, the idea of people disappearing into thin air and no one really knows why? Not to mention, that it's happening all over the world and you can be gone in the blink of an eye, right in front of other people? Obviously, it's going to cause panic, the constant fear, that it can happen to you or your loved ones... and what exactly happens once you're one of the victims of Spontaneous Human Absence? Some will use it as an excuse to escape, vanish and hope no one will be looking for them, others can use the epidemic to cover-up their crimes.
All of the above were my thoughts before and during reading, at least until somewhere around halfway, when the book slowly started to lose me, despite how much I was enjoying it at first. I'm not even fully sure, what caused it: the amount of informations that it started to throw at us at some point? one of the parts that didn't really feel like they add much into the story, beside being a filler? or maybe it was the fact, that I expected a bit more of sci-fi things from a novel labeled as sci-fi?
Probably, it was a bit of all three and I won't be able to point at the main culprit. I'm just sure, that I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, when I was at the beginning of the book.
May 5, 2026
By page 50 I was rooting for the epidemic.
Absence promises speculative fiction, dystopian mystery, sci-fi and delivers the thrill and appeal of a dictionary. People are disappearing worldwide and I have never been less interested in a global crisis.
The characters are so surface-level I couldn’t care less if they “popped” or stayed or murdered their grandma. The writing is flat and informational. The plot is one decent idea dragged behind a parade of unnecessary words.
448 pages… that’s how long it takes this book to say almost nothing. Absolutely brutal to get through. I’m truly stunned to see I’m the first 1 star. I feel like everyone else got the Absence deluxe edition and I got the instruction manual.
Grateful to NetGalley for the ARC and for their ongoing courage in letting The Hateful Reader judge things. Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: May 5, 2026
Absence promises speculative fiction, dystopian mystery, sci-fi and delivers the thrill and appeal of a dictionary. People are disappearing worldwide and I have never been less interested in a global crisis.
The characters are so surface-level I couldn’t care less if they “popped” or stayed or murdered their grandma. The writing is flat and informational. The plot is one decent idea dragged behind a parade of unnecessary words.
448 pages… that’s how long it takes this book to say almost nothing. Absolutely brutal to get through. I’m truly stunned to see I’m the first 1 star. I feel like everyone else got the Absence deluxe edition and I got the instruction manual.
Grateful to NetGalley for the ARC and for their ongoing courage in letting The Hateful Reader judge things. Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Pub date: May 5, 2026
Did Not Finish
June 22, 2026DNF 30%
I wanted the story to focus more on the people disappearing and less on the sexcapades and woes of a mediocre white man.
I wanted the story to focus more on the people disappearing and less on the sexcapades and woes of a mediocre white man.
May 7, 2026
Actual Rating: 3.5/5 stars, rounded up
Equal parts police procedural, sci-fi mystery and societal dystopia; there were plenty of colors in the palette that Andrew Dana Hugh could’ve chosen to paint the story of Absence with. Instead of choosing however, he blends these genres together in a way that worked surprisingly well for me. The mix is a little reminiscent of Jeff Vandermeer or Blake Crouch, but less bleak and alien than the former, and slower paced than the latter. Overall though, this was a unique new voice in the genre, that I’m sure many readers will enjoy.
The Story:
In a world close to our own, the population has been wrecked by an epidemic of spontaneous human vanishing. Without rhyme or reason, and from one second to the next, a person can “pop out of existence”, in a phenomenon known as “Spontaneous Human Absence”.
Agent Harvey Ellis works for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs – an ad hoc federal department tasked with investigating claims of Absence on their legitimacy, and discern any pattern if possible. Desensitized to the unrelenting random tragedies and reeling from a loss of his own, Harvey merely goes through the routine motions at his job. That is, until something unprecedented happens: a woman long thought Absent has reappeared in her hometown of Dawnville, Kansas, claiming she’s been to the other side and back. But is her wild and irresistible account true, or is she just the latest false prophet, offering hope to a world desperate for it? Together with his partner, Shonda Erins (the Scully to his Mulder), Harvey travels to Dawnville to find out.
What I loved:
Andrew Dana Hugh does a phenomenal job of setting the stage and hooking you into the layered mystery at hand. For about the first 1/3 of the book, I was reading compulsively, desperate to scrape together more clues to satisfy my curiosity.
The characters, although a bit stereotypical and lacking depth, bounce well of each-other, and I enjoyed Shonda and Harvey’s sceptic-believer-dynamic throughout. Harvey’s personal loss of his fiancée to Absence gives him a little extra layer of motivation to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The writing was smooth and accessible and I flew through the pages. That being said, interspliced with the action of the investigation, the author did take the time to step back once in a while and ponder the societal and existential implications of an epidemic like this (and the claim that there might be a way back for those departed!).
Unfortunately, the book wasn’t able to keep up this strong a momentum until the very end. Although there was no point where I stopped enjoying myself completely, I did feel like the book began to sizzled out like a dying flame from the 60% mark on.
What I didn’t love:
With its 450-page length, this is quite a hefty tome within its genre, and I have to say that I don’t think it does the work to justify that length. This is the classic example of “middle-book-sag”, where the second act drags out far too long and repeats steps it’s already played out. One too many red herring in the investigation, one too many conflict between partners… This could’ve easily been edited down by 50-100 pages, without losing any substance, and would’ve been better for it.
I was also left a little unsatisfied with the ending. Without spoiling plot points, I can only say that the novel is more interested in posing questions than actually answering them. This works fine for me in a more metaphorical/philosophical sci-fi mystery, but less so in a police-procedural. As the novel attempts to do both, I felt a little dissonance there.
Finally, there’s a particular story-line that’s far more prominent at the start and almost seems forgotten by the end. Given the emotional charge of this storyline, I couldn’t quite suspend my disbelieve over that.
Notes on the audio:
The audiobook was excellent in both overall quality and narration. The novel is single-POV, and the voice actor embodies the essence of the character and the story well. I can absolutely recommend this format, if it’s something you’re interested in.
Many thanks to Soho Press and RB-Media for providing me with an (audio-)ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Equal parts police procedural, sci-fi mystery and societal dystopia; there were plenty of colors in the palette that Andrew Dana Hugh could’ve chosen to paint the story of Absence with. Instead of choosing however, he blends these genres together in a way that worked surprisingly well for me. The mix is a little reminiscent of Jeff Vandermeer or Blake Crouch, but less bleak and alien than the former, and slower paced than the latter. Overall though, this was a unique new voice in the genre, that I’m sure many readers will enjoy.
The Story:
In a world close to our own, the population has been wrecked by an epidemic of spontaneous human vanishing. Without rhyme or reason, and from one second to the next, a person can “pop out of existence”, in a phenomenon known as “Spontaneous Human Absence”.
Agent Harvey Ellis works for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs – an ad hoc federal department tasked with investigating claims of Absence on their legitimacy, and discern any pattern if possible. Desensitized to the unrelenting random tragedies and reeling from a loss of his own, Harvey merely goes through the routine motions at his job. That is, until something unprecedented happens: a woman long thought Absent has reappeared in her hometown of Dawnville, Kansas, claiming she’s been to the other side and back. But is her wild and irresistible account true, or is she just the latest false prophet, offering hope to a world desperate for it? Together with his partner, Shonda Erins (the Scully to his Mulder), Harvey travels to Dawnville to find out.
What I loved:
Andrew Dana Hugh does a phenomenal job of setting the stage and hooking you into the layered mystery at hand. For about the first 1/3 of the book, I was reading compulsively, desperate to scrape together more clues to satisfy my curiosity.
The characters, although a bit stereotypical and lacking depth, bounce well of each-other, and I enjoyed Shonda and Harvey’s sceptic-believer-dynamic throughout. Harvey’s personal loss of his fiancée to Absence gives him a little extra layer of motivation to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The writing was smooth and accessible and I flew through the pages. That being said, interspliced with the action of the investigation, the author did take the time to step back once in a while and ponder the societal and existential implications of an epidemic like this (and the claim that there might be a way back for those departed!).
Unfortunately, the book wasn’t able to keep up this strong a momentum until the very end. Although there was no point where I stopped enjoying myself completely, I did feel like the book began to sizzled out like a dying flame from the 60% mark on.
What I didn’t love:
With its 450-page length, this is quite a hefty tome within its genre, and I have to say that I don’t think it does the work to justify that length. This is the classic example of “middle-book-sag”, where the second act drags out far too long and repeats steps it’s already played out. One too many red herring in the investigation, one too many conflict between partners… This could’ve easily been edited down by 50-100 pages, without losing any substance, and would’ve been better for it.
I was also left a little unsatisfied with the ending. Without spoiling plot points, I can only say that the novel is more interested in posing questions than actually answering them. This works fine for me in a more metaphorical/philosophical sci-fi mystery, but less so in a police-procedural. As the novel attempts to do both, I felt a little dissonance there.
Finally, there’s a particular story-line that’s far more prominent at the start and almost seems forgotten by the end. Given the emotional charge of this storyline, I couldn’t quite suspend my disbelieve over that.
Notes on the audio:
The audiobook was excellent in both overall quality and narration. The novel is single-POV, and the voice actor embodies the essence of the character and the story well. I can absolutely recommend this format, if it’s something you’re interested in.
Many thanks to Soho Press and RB-Media for providing me with an (audio-)ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Did Not Finish
May 8, 2026DNF @ 13%.
The concept of this one is very reminiscent of The Leftovers but dragged out. Instead of one big disappearance, you get an increasing amount of disappearances over months (years?) that has no end in sight. I liked the exploration at the start of the story of what that would mean in terms of the responses to the situation from the government and the public. How this ongoing crisis impacts people's behaviors or not.
This story is from the POV of a detective of sorts who investigates "pop" claims to ensure they are legitimate and not, you know, murder or something like that. Then a case comes along of someone "returning" from being popped 10 years later, and I assume the plot takes off.
For me the fact that this was written by a man was showing, and I didn't like it. But it was a subtle thing here where he thinks he's writing a strong woman. The stereotype of a woman like Shonda would be that she gets emotionally entangled with the narrator and wants him more than he wants her or something like that. I didn't finish the book, so perhaps it eventually plays out that way. Initially, she's written as very independent, such that she will cheat on her husband in an emotionally detached way. I'm not sure what her husband does or doesn't know. My problem with it is that it feels like the author wrote it thinking he was writing an empowered woman when really she's just the dream scenario for Harvey. She's only interested in sex? Sign him up.
There's also a popped wife that operates much like the dead wife trope of many a story focused on a sad man.
It was reminding me too much of Unfettered Journey by Gary Bengier and The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed, both of which had a similar problem for me.
On top of that, I didn't care for what the answer of this mystery was turning into. I prefer the non-answer of The Leftovers (in the show at least - haven't read the book). When you provides answers, it can quickly get into layers of SF nonsense that aren't as interesting as the impact of the mysterious thing. At least when it's a speculative lit fic situation like this.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
The concept of this one is very reminiscent of The Leftovers but dragged out. Instead of one big disappearance, you get an increasing amount of disappearances over months (years?) that has no end in sight. I liked the exploration at the start of the story of what that would mean in terms of the responses to the situation from the government and the public. How this ongoing crisis impacts people's behaviors or not.
This story is from the POV of a detective of sorts who investigates "pop" claims to ensure they are legitimate and not, you know, murder or something like that. Then a case comes along of someone "returning" from being popped 10 years later, and I assume the plot takes off.
For me the fact that this was written by a man was showing, and I didn't like it. But it was a subtle thing here where he thinks he's writing a strong woman. The stereotype of a woman like Shonda would be that she gets emotionally entangled with the narrator and wants him more than he wants her or something like that. I didn't finish the book, so perhaps it eventually plays out that way. Initially, she's written as very independent, such that she will cheat on her husband in an emotionally detached way. I'm not sure what her husband does or doesn't know. My problem with it is that it feels like the author wrote it thinking he was writing an empowered woman when really she's just the dream scenario for Harvey. She's only interested in sex? Sign him up.
There's also a popped wife that operates much like the dead wife trope of many a story focused on a sad man.
It was reminding me too much of Unfettered Journey by Gary Bengier and The Afterlife Project by Tim Weed, both of which had a similar problem for me.
On top of that, I didn't care for what the answer of this mystery was turning into. I prefer the non-answer of The Leftovers (in the show at least - haven't read the book). When you provides answers, it can quickly get into layers of SF nonsense that aren't as interesting as the impact of the mysterious thing. At least when it's a speculative lit fic situation like this.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
May 2, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Press for the Advanced copy of this novel!
I've always been drawn to speculative fiction right off the bat I was engaged with the premise of this book! I especially enjoy the type of speculative fiction that feels just a little too close to reality so this novel really hit all the marks for me. The premise being a simple but deeply unsettling thing such as a quick "pop" and you're out of existence without warning or trace is phenomenal. No explanation, no evidence that you were ever there- just gone *poof*. We follow Harvey Ellis, a federal agent working for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, who is then tasked with the investigation of a rare and very controversial case. A girl who claims to have returned after disappearing. From there the novel is less about solving the mystery and more about sitting with impossible questions. What I loved most about this novel was the world building, which is a funny thing to say seeing as this narrative is mainly set in rural Kansas, and anyone who is familiar with rural Kansas knows how fucking boring it is so the fact that this book was still able to have such insane world building in a seemingly very bland setting is absolutely mind boggling to me! I loved how the subtlety of the world building added to this stories emotional depth and just enhanced the believability of this fictional phenomenon even more. That being said, I did find it slowing down a bit around the 60-70% mark (as I was listening to the audiobook and found myself putting it down more often around this time) but the tone is consistent throughout which kept me coming back! I also found the lack of mention of Harvey's fiancée who went missing or "popped" towards the end of the novel to be a bit jarring because she was so heavily mentioned and talked about throughout just right up until the end. Overall though I really enjoyed this read! Just the right amount of speculative fiction mixed with thought-provoking ideas as well as being surprisingly emotionally resonant at times with it's themes of loss and fear, and of course the inherent human need for answers in a world that rarely provides them. If you're like me at all and enjoy speculative fiction, sci-fi, the netflix show "The OA", true crime, or even just a good riddle. Then this is the book for you! (Just don't get upset at me when you're left with more questions than answers).
I've always been drawn to speculative fiction right off the bat I was engaged with the premise of this book! I especially enjoy the type of speculative fiction that feels just a little too close to reality so this novel really hit all the marks for me. The premise being a simple but deeply unsettling thing such as a quick "pop" and you're out of existence without warning or trace is phenomenal. No explanation, no evidence that you were ever there- just gone *poof*. We follow Harvey Ellis, a federal agent working for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, who is then tasked with the investigation of a rare and very controversial case. A girl who claims to have returned after disappearing. From there the novel is less about solving the mystery and more about sitting with impossible questions. What I loved most about this novel was the world building, which is a funny thing to say seeing as this narrative is mainly set in rural Kansas, and anyone who is familiar with rural Kansas knows how fucking boring it is so the fact that this book was still able to have such insane world building in a seemingly very bland setting is absolutely mind boggling to me! I loved how the subtlety of the world building added to this stories emotional depth and just enhanced the believability of this fictional phenomenon even more. That being said, I did find it slowing down a bit around the 60-70% mark (as I was listening to the audiobook and found myself putting it down more often around this time) but the tone is consistent throughout which kept me coming back! I also found the lack of mention of Harvey's fiancée who went missing or "popped" towards the end of the novel to be a bit jarring because she was so heavily mentioned and talked about throughout just right up until the end. Overall though I really enjoyed this read! Just the right amount of speculative fiction mixed with thought-provoking ideas as well as being surprisingly emotionally resonant at times with it's themes of loss and fear, and of course the inherent human need for answers in a world that rarely provides them. If you're like me at all and enjoy speculative fiction, sci-fi, the netflix show "The OA", true crime, or even just a good riddle. Then this is the book for you! (Just don't get upset at me when you're left with more questions than answers).
May 11, 2026
As interesting as the premise is, I was a little disappointed by Absence. The story centers around the phenomena of “popping”, in which people around the world simply disappear from thin air. As great as it is that we get plenty of insight into how this gradual depopulation affects culture, society and government, it sometimes drags on for a little too long and teeters into infodumping. Between this and the long stretch in the middle where not a lot happens to move the plot along, I think it would have benefited from being trimmed down about 50-100 pages. At the same time, I enjoyed most of the speculative elements and found it pretty thought provoking by the end.
Thanks to Netgalley and SoHo press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Thanks to Netgalley and SoHo press for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
August 2, 2026
What an interesting book about the importance of dinner parties.
May 4, 2026
I’m a huge fan of speculative fiction and Absence delivers. I loved the premise of this book. What happens when people spontaneously start popping out of existence? It was so fun to think about the trajectory that the world’s population might take under these circumstances. Some of the response reminded me of the world’s response to COVID.
I liked the mystery and thought the plot was interesting and engaging. The pacing was steady. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a good job.
I really enjoyed the whole nomenclature for this world: depop, absentia, etc. I appreciated the ethnic diversity and representation in the book. There was even a throuple!
The ending wasn’t wrapped up in a pretty little bow but that is the way of speculative fiction and something I’ve come to expect from the genre.
Overall an interesting and fun story.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC!
I liked the mystery and thought the plot was interesting and engaging. The pacing was steady. I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a good job.
I really enjoyed the whole nomenclature for this world: depop, absentia, etc. I appreciated the ethnic diversity and representation in the book. There was even a throuple!
The ending wasn’t wrapped up in a pretty little bow but that is the way of speculative fiction and something I’ve come to expect from the genre.
Overall an interesting and fun story.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Imagine a world where people suddenly disappear, massively. They do not fade away - they pop, with a loud sound. And just like that, they are gone.
Our hero is an investigator working for the bureau of depopulation affairs. Imagine a police division, responsible for determining if a person has truly disappeared (an Absentia case), or if something else happened to them. They collect evidence, interview witnesses, fill in paperwork. They have to travel for work to the places where people disappear from, sometimes massively.
This is a slow burn, full of reflections about what makes life meaningful in a world where people can suddenly "pop". Charlatans and scientists alike try to find an explanation, a treatment, a pattern. Some people pretend to return, sometimes years after their disappearance. All the others become afraid of staying alone. Apps are used to let your loved ones know that you are still alive.
The writing style of the author is very poetic. I found it very relaxing, and also very sad. This novel was full of aphorisms about death, relationships, and what gives life meaning. How can anyone fall in love when the other person might disappear at any moment?
Thank you NetGalley and Soho Press for the ARC. Thank you Andrew Dana Hudson for writing it.
Our hero is an investigator working for the bureau of depopulation affairs. Imagine a police division, responsible for determining if a person has truly disappeared (an Absentia case), or if something else happened to them. They collect evidence, interview witnesses, fill in paperwork. They have to travel for work to the places where people disappear from, sometimes massively.
This is a slow burn, full of reflections about what makes life meaningful in a world where people can suddenly "pop". Charlatans and scientists alike try to find an explanation, a treatment, a pattern. Some people pretend to return, sometimes years after their disappearance. All the others become afraid of staying alone. Apps are used to let your loved ones know that you are still alive.
The writing style of the author is very poetic. I found it very relaxing, and also very sad. This novel was full of aphorisms about death, relationships, and what gives life meaning. How can anyone fall in love when the other person might disappear at any moment?
Thank you NetGalley and Soho Press for the ARC. Thank you Andrew Dana Hudson for writing it.
June 7, 2026
The idea was better than the book. First third was interesting enough, but than it got a bit slow and delivered really nothing at the end.
June 8, 2026
Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson starts with an interesting premise. A world where people suddenly vanish without explanation should create enormous emotional and existential weight, and the idea of a government agency investigating those disappearances adds another layer of intrigue. The setup promises a thoughtful blend of speculative fiction, mystery, and social commentary.
The story clearly aims for something ambitious. It explores grief, uncertainty, political division, and the stories people create to survive during a crisis they cannot understand. There are moments where the atmosphere captures that quiet sense of dread well, especially in the way ordinary life continues despite the impossible happening around it.
Unfortunately, it never came together for me. The pacing feels extremely slow, and much of the book drifts between conversations, reflections, and ideas without building meaningful momentum. It often felt like the story kept circling its themes instead of developing them.
Harvey and Shonda work well enough as leads, but I never felt particularly connected to either of them. Their investigation should have carried tension and urgency, especially with the possibility that someone may have returned from Absence itself, yet the narrative rarely feels emotionally charged.
Hudson’s prose leans literary and introspective, which will probably appeal to some readers, but for me it added to the sense that the book was stretching relatively little material across too many pages. The ideas themselves are interesting, but the execution lacks focus and impact.
By the end, I felt like Absence spent a long time asking large philosophical questions without saying much that felt new or emotionally resonant. The premise deserved a sharper narrative and stronger payoff than it actually delivered.
Absence has an imaginative concept and thoughtful ambitions, but the reading experience felt slow, unfocused, and emotionally flat. I kept waiting for the story to fully connect its ideas into something meaningful, and it never quite got there for me.
The story clearly aims for something ambitious. It explores grief, uncertainty, political division, and the stories people create to survive during a crisis they cannot understand. There are moments where the atmosphere captures that quiet sense of dread well, especially in the way ordinary life continues despite the impossible happening around it.
Unfortunately, it never came together for me. The pacing feels extremely slow, and much of the book drifts between conversations, reflections, and ideas without building meaningful momentum. It often felt like the story kept circling its themes instead of developing them.
Harvey and Shonda work well enough as leads, but I never felt particularly connected to either of them. Their investigation should have carried tension and urgency, especially with the possibility that someone may have returned from Absence itself, yet the narrative rarely feels emotionally charged.
Hudson’s prose leans literary and introspective, which will probably appeal to some readers, but for me it added to the sense that the book was stretching relatively little material across too many pages. The ideas themselves are interesting, but the execution lacks focus and impact.
By the end, I felt like Absence spent a long time asking large philosophical questions without saying much that felt new or emotionally resonant. The premise deserved a sharper narrative and stronger payoff than it actually delivered.
Absence has an imaginative concept and thoughtful ambitions, but the reading experience felt slow, unfocused, and emotionally flat. I kept waiting for the story to fully connect its ideas into something meaningful, and it never quite got there for me.
August 13, 2026
really interesting story/idea and i enjoyed the way it was told. it did end like i kinda expected but that’s not a bad thing. it was just expected from the way it was written. it did have something to say about the fragility of life and all that but i just enjoyed harvey as a character
May 18, 2026
Really good worldbuilding, and an excellent X-Files-esque supernatural mystery.
May 6, 2026
I found I could relate to this apocalyptic world where an unexplained phenomenon causes people to “pop” and disappear. The human reactions and drive to live life when faced with an unknown force taking lives felt very reminiscent of the early days of the Covid pandemic.
The book was well paced and had a satisfying ending. Would recommend.
The book was well paced and had a satisfying ending. Would recommend.
August 8, 2026
okay… loved this so much
June 4, 2026
[…] “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Nothing about Depop makes sense. All I’m saying is, consider the possibility that consciousness is a migratory phenomenon. And right now, like it or not, it’s leaving this world. Maybe it’s supposed to happen like this. When the world fills up, or when the seasons of the multiverse change, we scatter to the winds. Maybe it’s the only way intelligent life survives, because otherwise we kill whatever place we live in. I don’t know. But I do know this place is dying. It’s sick. It’s being abandoned, perhaps for good reason. Soon it will be empty, nothing but animals and plants and ruins and satellites in the sky broadcasting nothing.”
[…]
July 17, 2026
This book had zero business being as long as it was. There is a lot of repetition, and so so many metaphors. I hate books that are drowning in metaphors.
This book started off strong, the premise is fresh and new. People disappearing into thin air for no known reason. And it's happening all over the world. Then one day, a woman who had "popped" before is now back, a decade later. But you get to the middle part of the book, around 20% or so, and the story just starts to drag. Most of the book spans a week or so, but then the final part of it time jumps like crazy.
There was also too much time spent on our two detective characters bumpin uglies. There's also this who "dead wife" trope that is really heavy handed in the beginning, but in the end it just nothing. Like the week was just what he needed to move on.
If this book were about 100 pages shorter, I think it would have rated a lot higher for me.
This book started off strong, the premise is fresh and new. People disappearing into thin air for no known reason. And it's happening all over the world. Then one day, a woman who had "popped" before is now back, a decade later. But you get to the middle part of the book, around 20% or so, and the story just starts to drag. Most of the book spans a week or so, but then the final part of it time jumps like crazy.
There was also too much time spent on our two detective characters bumpin uglies. There's also this who "dead wife" trope that is really heavy handed in the beginning, but in the end it just nothing. Like the week was just what he needed to move on.
If this book were about 100 pages shorter, I think it would have rated a lot higher for me.
January 13, 2026
What a great read to start the year!
I love a soft-sci fi story rooted in reality so this was an interesting premise to get stuck into. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their world, whilst exploring the phenomenon of people disappearing into thin air.
A mysterious read that keeps you questioning the truth. Some elements felt a little farcical at points but never quite hit the ‘too much’ point.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Absence and would recommend.
Thanks to Soho Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!
I love a soft-sci fi story rooted in reality so this was an interesting premise to get stuck into. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their world, whilst exploring the phenomenon of people disappearing into thin air.
A mysterious read that keeps you questioning the truth. Some elements felt a little farcical at points but never quite hit the ‘too much’ point.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Absence and would recommend.
Thanks to Soho Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!
July 27, 2026
When I first looked at the cover of Andrew Dana Hudson’s ABSENCE, several possible topics regarding the one-word title came to mind. I wondered what kind of absence he was talking about. Maybe it's about a messed-up kid who skips school, or someone who manages never to be there when scary or difficult situations arise. But I could have taken a hundred guesses, and none would be anywhere near Hudson's perspective on or exploration of the subject.
Individuals or groups of people suddenly disappear without any warning, reason, logic or explanation. The event becomes known as popping. Two people are talking or driving together, or making love. Suddenly only one is there; the other is temporarily replaced by a vacuum, which itself disappears almost immediately. A popping sound is always heard when the victim goes away.
When popping had begun in a few locations around the world, people generally denied it was happening or simply ignored the phenomenon. But then the pops increased dramatically and quickly, and nobody could figure out what was going on. It soon became quite clear that the entire human race was on its way to extinction. The world was ending, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
The U.S. government tried desperately to at least ease the suffering of survivors. It created the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, and the entire nickname of the organization and its raison d'être became Depop. “Pop” now had two meanings, both of which were ugly and depressing: it referred to the “act” of disappearing, and it also was the major element of the word “Depop,” meaning the gradual erosion of the world’s population. In any case, the government decided to send checks to the closest survivors of those who had popped, calling the new policy the Final Deal.
The novel's protagonist is Harvey Ellis, a fairly smart, thoughtful, sensitive and tortured man. He has lost his parents and his beloved fiancée, Kayla, to Depop. He sees his loved ones happily go to church together, and it is there that tragedy strikes in the form of a cluster pop.
Harvey eventually works at the Kansas City Bureau as an investigator. His job is to determine if individuals who are in some way connected to an incident of Depop are being honest or deceptive. Some run away because they just want to leave their current life for some reason, including their possible desire to escape punishment for a crime they have committed. Harvey must track them down, as well as those who have fraudulently claimed that their spouse, relative or friend has popped. They are the ones who want to get the Final Deal checks.
As Harvey proceeds with those individual investigations, he interviews the person in question to determine if the claim is valid or just a greedy hoax. He brings along with him a machine he has invented that he says can determine if the pop has taken place. When he turns the machine on, he indicates that it shows no sign of a recent pop. The claimant then gets very nervous and eventually confesses that he or she made up the story, leading to his or her arrest. Harvey calls his fake device the Ulbay Itshay Radiation Detector, and it works almost every time.
After about 10 years of being very successful at his job, Harvey is called into his boss's office and offered something new --- a very different kind of mission that is far more dangerous and mysterious than any he has been on so far. In this case, he will be assigned to interview and investigate a young woman from the small Kansas town of Dawnville who claims to have popped but now has returned. A true Return would be among the most powerful and beloved people who ever lived, serving as proof that a loved one who has popped can come back to our world and into our lives.
Harvey accepts the assignment. But he can't be allowed to travel by himself. If he pops while on the mission, there must be a witness. He chooses his partner, Shonda Erins, a young Black woman who is strong, wise, skeptical by nature and very beautiful.
When they arrive in Dawnville, they find their target, Gabriela Reyes, in a holding cell in the town's jailhouse. The sheriff explains that she had shown up the day before in a very confused state. She didn't seem to know who she was or why she was there. But by the next day, everything had come back to her. She had been to the places people go when they pop, and then she returned to her life on earth.
Before her disappearance, the town had considered itself an official Safe zone. No one, they proclaimed, had ever popped there. People from all over the Midwest had moved to Dawnville, and it had flourished. If someone suddenly disappeared, they made excuses. But when Gabriela popped, everyone assumed that it was real. And they hated her for ruining the town's reputation. And now, here she is again.
Gabriela becomes the novel's central force. She claims very stubbornly, almost religiously, that she is the teenager who popped 10 years ago. When Harvey and Shonda investigate her to try to catch her in a lie or a mistake, she responds with devastating details about her travels to and through other difficult and harsh destinations and universes until she finally reached the city of Strangertown. Everyone who has lived there is determined to build a beautiful and productive community, and they have accomplished many of their goals.
Gabriela also explains that popping is not a one-time phenomenon. With practice, people can learn to pop from location to location until they reach their hoped-for destination --- usually Strangertown. But after living, striving, contributing and thriving there, she decided to attempt to conquer the conveyance, the path back to her earthly home. She wants to teach human beings the realities of popping; the need to work, build and grow together in order to save humanity; and to use Depop to gain the ability to pop on command so that everyone can use the techniques she has learned --- not only to save human lives, but also to send more people to Strangertown to make it even stronger and more wonderful for eternity.
Harvey is impressed with Gabriela's presentation and thinks she could be the real deal. But Shonda believes she's a phony. For the duration of their two-week mission, they argue, fall in and out of love, and live through the terrors of dealing with the people of Dawnville. So many of them can’t stand Gabriela, despise the two federal agents, abhor the government, and hate anyone who has ruined their precious town. More and more pops have been attacking Dawnville, and violence turns into madness. Gabriela, Harvey and Shonda barely escape with their lives.
By the end of the mission, Harvey has met not only angry, despairing and stubborn folks, but also a couple of groups of people who have maintained a sense of hope and consistent decency. Meanwhile, nothing has happened to change either Harvey's or Shonda's mind about Gabriela's story.
The Bureau accepts Shonda’s conclusions, rejecting all of Harvey's ideas. After some more time there, Harvey retires and decides to investigate the case again, this time on his own. He feels that he has lost a round but not the fight as he is determined to prove that Gabriela's story is true (or at least find real proof one way or the other).
I shall not proceed lest I spoil the ending. About three-quarters of the way through the book, I began to wonder how Hudson might be able to end the whole thing. Would it be sad or happy? Impossible! What kind of compromise could he possibly create? Was Harvey or Shonda right? Or would we be left hanging? The novel also drew me in both intellectually and emotionally. I seriously began to question myself. How would I react to Depop? I still don't know, but I've thought about it a lot. Happily, for me, the ending was profoundly satisfying and brilliantly conceived.
Anyone who loves thought-provoking novels should read ABSENCE. But you must do so before you pop.
Reviewed by Jack Kramer
Individuals or groups of people suddenly disappear without any warning, reason, logic or explanation. The event becomes known as popping. Two people are talking or driving together, or making love. Suddenly only one is there; the other is temporarily replaced by a vacuum, which itself disappears almost immediately. A popping sound is always heard when the victim goes away.
When popping had begun in a few locations around the world, people generally denied it was happening or simply ignored the phenomenon. But then the pops increased dramatically and quickly, and nobody could figure out what was going on. It soon became quite clear that the entire human race was on its way to extinction. The world was ending, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
The U.S. government tried desperately to at least ease the suffering of survivors. It created the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, and the entire nickname of the organization and its raison d'être became Depop. “Pop” now had two meanings, both of which were ugly and depressing: it referred to the “act” of disappearing, and it also was the major element of the word “Depop,” meaning the gradual erosion of the world’s population. In any case, the government decided to send checks to the closest survivors of those who had popped, calling the new policy the Final Deal.
The novel's protagonist is Harvey Ellis, a fairly smart, thoughtful, sensitive and tortured man. He has lost his parents and his beloved fiancée, Kayla, to Depop. He sees his loved ones happily go to church together, and it is there that tragedy strikes in the form of a cluster pop.
Harvey eventually works at the Kansas City Bureau as an investigator. His job is to determine if individuals who are in some way connected to an incident of Depop are being honest or deceptive. Some run away because they just want to leave their current life for some reason, including their possible desire to escape punishment for a crime they have committed. Harvey must track them down, as well as those who have fraudulently claimed that their spouse, relative or friend has popped. They are the ones who want to get the Final Deal checks.
As Harvey proceeds with those individual investigations, he interviews the person in question to determine if the claim is valid or just a greedy hoax. He brings along with him a machine he has invented that he says can determine if the pop has taken place. When he turns the machine on, he indicates that it shows no sign of a recent pop. The claimant then gets very nervous and eventually confesses that he or she made up the story, leading to his or her arrest. Harvey calls his fake device the Ulbay Itshay Radiation Detector, and it works almost every time.
After about 10 years of being very successful at his job, Harvey is called into his boss's office and offered something new --- a very different kind of mission that is far more dangerous and mysterious than any he has been on so far. In this case, he will be assigned to interview and investigate a young woman from the small Kansas town of Dawnville who claims to have popped but now has returned. A true Return would be among the most powerful and beloved people who ever lived, serving as proof that a loved one who has popped can come back to our world and into our lives.
Harvey accepts the assignment. But he can't be allowed to travel by himself. If he pops while on the mission, there must be a witness. He chooses his partner, Shonda Erins, a young Black woman who is strong, wise, skeptical by nature and very beautiful.
When they arrive in Dawnville, they find their target, Gabriela Reyes, in a holding cell in the town's jailhouse. The sheriff explains that she had shown up the day before in a very confused state. She didn't seem to know who she was or why she was there. But by the next day, everything had come back to her. She had been to the places people go when they pop, and then she returned to her life on earth.
Before her disappearance, the town had considered itself an official Safe zone. No one, they proclaimed, had ever popped there. People from all over the Midwest had moved to Dawnville, and it had flourished. If someone suddenly disappeared, they made excuses. But when Gabriela popped, everyone assumed that it was real. And they hated her for ruining the town's reputation. And now, here she is again.
Gabriela becomes the novel's central force. She claims very stubbornly, almost religiously, that she is the teenager who popped 10 years ago. When Harvey and Shonda investigate her to try to catch her in a lie or a mistake, she responds with devastating details about her travels to and through other difficult and harsh destinations and universes until she finally reached the city of Strangertown. Everyone who has lived there is determined to build a beautiful and productive community, and they have accomplished many of their goals.
Gabriela also explains that popping is not a one-time phenomenon. With practice, people can learn to pop from location to location until they reach their hoped-for destination --- usually Strangertown. But after living, striving, contributing and thriving there, she decided to attempt to conquer the conveyance, the path back to her earthly home. She wants to teach human beings the realities of popping; the need to work, build and grow together in order to save humanity; and to use Depop to gain the ability to pop on command so that everyone can use the techniques she has learned --- not only to save human lives, but also to send more people to Strangertown to make it even stronger and more wonderful for eternity.
Harvey is impressed with Gabriela's presentation and thinks she could be the real deal. But Shonda believes she's a phony. For the duration of their two-week mission, they argue, fall in and out of love, and live through the terrors of dealing with the people of Dawnville. So many of them can’t stand Gabriela, despise the two federal agents, abhor the government, and hate anyone who has ruined their precious town. More and more pops have been attacking Dawnville, and violence turns into madness. Gabriela, Harvey and Shonda barely escape with their lives.
By the end of the mission, Harvey has met not only angry, despairing and stubborn folks, but also a couple of groups of people who have maintained a sense of hope and consistent decency. Meanwhile, nothing has happened to change either Harvey's or Shonda's mind about Gabriela's story.
The Bureau accepts Shonda’s conclusions, rejecting all of Harvey's ideas. After some more time there, Harvey retires and decides to investigate the case again, this time on his own. He feels that he has lost a round but not the fight as he is determined to prove that Gabriela's story is true (or at least find real proof one way or the other).
I shall not proceed lest I spoil the ending. About three-quarters of the way through the book, I began to wonder how Hudson might be able to end the whole thing. Would it be sad or happy? Impossible! What kind of compromise could he possibly create? Was Harvey or Shonda right? Or would we be left hanging? The novel also drew me in both intellectually and emotionally. I seriously began to question myself. How would I react to Depop? I still don't know, but I've thought about it a lot. Happily, for me, the ending was profoundly satisfying and brilliantly conceived.
Anyone who loves thought-provoking novels should read ABSENCE. But you must do so before you pop.
Reviewed by Jack Kramer
May 8, 2026
This is kind of a mélange of the brisk police procedural tone of the X files with the interior literary sensibilities of Wolf Hall hung on a sweepingly poetic vision of societal collapse and the very deep cultural fears and misgivings about the afterlife. Huh? Yes, this is an ambitious and very unique novel. Harvey Ellis is an agent with the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, which investigates the terrifying epidemic of people randomly disappearing with a pop. They leave no trace, the vanishing events can occur with a single person winking out, or a group or in some instances on an even larger scale. A large faction of groups and cults, many of them religious, some violent, seek answers to the terrifying randomness of the culling and Harvey and his married partner Shonda, who have a complex relationship of their own, are assigned to a remote Kansas town to investigate the case of a woman who had popped and then returned, except no one has ever returned before. Harvey and Shonda find their belief systems (or lack thereof) challenged and sometimes shattered, as they try to piece together her story and follow the many leads she enigmatically provides for them or doesn’t. Harvey’s perspective dominates throughout; his narration grips by the throat.
I had no idea how this book would end, which is a big plus for me. The world building is singularly good, with the many details of how the country copes with a rapidly declining population (hint: self-driving trucks are ubiquitous, along with the buddy system used whenever possible). With so many avenues of philosophic exploration to the unspooling of a species, credulity is sometimes stretched and there are a few gaping holes, which on hindsight seemed intentional, but still were unsettling The resolution of the ending was difficult, though perhaps warranted. I’m still wrestling with it. Perhaps ultimately, this story could be viewed as an extended metaphor for all of our fears: the perilous uncertainties of life-sudden mortality, grief, breakdown of systems, the rise of extremism, and the severance of the bonds with loved ones. There is so much to consider in this beautifully written challenging book. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.
I had no idea how this book would end, which is a big plus for me. The world building is singularly good, with the many details of how the country copes with a rapidly declining population (hint: self-driving trucks are ubiquitous, along with the buddy system used whenever possible). With so many avenues of philosophic exploration to the unspooling of a species, credulity is sometimes stretched and there are a few gaping holes, which on hindsight seemed intentional, but still were unsettling The resolution of the ending was difficult, though perhaps warranted. I’m still wrestling with it. Perhaps ultimately, this story could be viewed as an extended metaphor for all of our fears: the perilous uncertainties of life-sudden mortality, grief, breakdown of systems, the rise of extremism, and the severance of the bonds with loved ones. There is so much to consider in this beautifully written challenging book. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.
May 2, 2026
A very interesting sci-fi novel about a future where people are disappearing - popping out or becoming absent/missing. The cause of “de-pop” is unknown but witnessed and apparently random. Harvey works for The Bureau and mostly verifies instances of popping out for the global registry, and so family members can receive their Congressionally mandated benefits. A lot of this is a thought experiment, meaning the author has thought through and shares his ideas for a future with declining populations, orphans, etc. there’s also a mystery at the heart of the story when one de-popped person appears to have returned, alive to tell about her experience. This is what speculative fiction should do, and it does it very well. 4.75 stars.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @RBMedia, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #Absence for review purposes. Publication date: 5 May 2026.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @RBMedia, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #Absence for review purposes. Publication date: 5 May 2026.
May 22, 2026
This is such a clever idea and at times I really thought it was going to deliver. But its 400+ pages with nothing to say. The last third at least feels like a weirdly long epilogue that is driving at something profound or interesting, but just never comes close to delivering.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
My thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for an advance copy of this novel that looks at a world that is slowing disappearing, person by person for reasons unknown, and what happens when when of these people, long thought disappeared returns with explanations, explanations that few believe, a story that seems nebulous, with answers that raise more questions than solutions.
Death is something that we all must face, no matter how hard we try not to. All the anti-aging, the drinking of a child's blood, biohacking imprinting one's brains onto the cloud, are just things we as humans have done for thousands of years. Praying, worshipping what ever cool thing is laying around, sacred rituals. All in an effort to hold off the inevitable. Which is why this book left so much of an impression on me. I am not afraid of dying, I am afraid of being left alone. Also death is a lot of paperwork in this society, and I would like to skip that. It is the fear of being alone though, of watching my family die that really makes me uncomfortable. At least I know what is happening. What would it be like if people just disappeared? A pop and one is gone. What happened? Where are they? Can they return? Are they happy? Questions asked in the novel, a book that was far more than I expected. Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson is a book about loss, fear, one comes next, and what happens when someone comes back, with more questions than answers.
Harvey Ellis is a member of the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, a government agency set up to deal with the sudden rise of people just popping out of existence. One minute there, the next gone. The world has come to pretty much a stand-still. People don't want to have children, for fear they might just disappear. Work places are a nightmare as workers just disappear, as are most forms of entertainment. Apps keep track of people, sharing the information with friends just in case one pops, at least someone might now. A popped person leaves no trace. Just a noise. And are never seen again, something which makes their disappearances even more painful. Ellis along with his partner, and maybe something more Shondra Erins are sent to Dawnville, Kansas to investigate a Return, someone claiming to have popped, but has come back. This happens a bit but most are proves to be liars, or lost people in other ways. Ellis suspects that this return, a young girl who disappeared in high school, but looks older and wiser, might be real. At the same time disappearances are starting to rise, with group pops on the rise, leading to a fear that things might be getting worse. However the more the Returned person shares, the more questions that arise, and the worse the world seems to get.
I did not expect to spend a day of two reading magazines of no importance, English issues of Prog to be precise, because my brain was too busy processing this book. Hudson has built a world that seems more than real. Something that could happen tomorrow. A world of disappearing people, checks given if the person is proved to have been popped, and no real answers for why things are happening, nor how to stop it. The mix of people believing in what is happening, blaming God, or the Government, seems so human. The way Ellis describes the way he lost people, and the feelings he had, the loss, the fear they weren't gone, the blaming others. Hudson does a very good job describing the world, the consequences, and the fears of those left behind. A check to appease people but no answers. A breakdown in morality as mortality seems closer and closer. And the fear. Always the fear.
The book is big with a lot of big ideas and a lot of big questions. A lot of this will stay with the reader, at least it did for me. A lot of fears, and a lot of well, sometimes humans can do interesting things, and keep going. I look forward to more books by Andrew Dana Hudson.
Death is something that we all must face, no matter how hard we try not to. All the anti-aging, the drinking of a child's blood, biohacking imprinting one's brains onto the cloud, are just things we as humans have done for thousands of years. Praying, worshipping what ever cool thing is laying around, sacred rituals. All in an effort to hold off the inevitable. Which is why this book left so much of an impression on me. I am not afraid of dying, I am afraid of being left alone. Also death is a lot of paperwork in this society, and I would like to skip that. It is the fear of being alone though, of watching my family die that really makes me uncomfortable. At least I know what is happening. What would it be like if people just disappeared? A pop and one is gone. What happened? Where are they? Can they return? Are they happy? Questions asked in the novel, a book that was far more than I expected. Absence by Andrew Dana Hudson is a book about loss, fear, one comes next, and what happens when someone comes back, with more questions than answers.
Harvey Ellis is a member of the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, a government agency set up to deal with the sudden rise of people just popping out of existence. One minute there, the next gone. The world has come to pretty much a stand-still. People don't want to have children, for fear they might just disappear. Work places are a nightmare as workers just disappear, as are most forms of entertainment. Apps keep track of people, sharing the information with friends just in case one pops, at least someone might now. A popped person leaves no trace. Just a noise. And are never seen again, something which makes their disappearances even more painful. Ellis along with his partner, and maybe something more Shondra Erins are sent to Dawnville, Kansas to investigate a Return, someone claiming to have popped, but has come back. This happens a bit but most are proves to be liars, or lost people in other ways. Ellis suspects that this return, a young girl who disappeared in high school, but looks older and wiser, might be real. At the same time disappearances are starting to rise, with group pops on the rise, leading to a fear that things might be getting worse. However the more the Returned person shares, the more questions that arise, and the worse the world seems to get.
I did not expect to spend a day of two reading magazines of no importance, English issues of Prog to be precise, because my brain was too busy processing this book. Hudson has built a world that seems more than real. Something that could happen tomorrow. A world of disappearing people, checks given if the person is proved to have been popped, and no real answers for why things are happening, nor how to stop it. The mix of people believing in what is happening, blaming God, or the Government, seems so human. The way Ellis describes the way he lost people, and the feelings he had, the loss, the fear they weren't gone, the blaming others. Hudson does a very good job describing the world, the consequences, and the fears of those left behind. A check to appease people but no answers. A breakdown in morality as mortality seems closer and closer. And the fear. Always the fear.
The book is big with a lot of big ideas and a lot of big questions. A lot of this will stay with the reader, at least it did for me. A lot of fears, and a lot of well, sometimes humans can do interesting things, and keep going. I look forward to more books by Andrew Dana Hudson.
May 29, 2026
What happens if you can randomly disappear without a trace? That is the state the world is in, in the book Absence. People are popping, also known as Spontaneous Human Absence. The only thing you hear before a person disappears is a loud pop, and then they are gone. This has caused chaos, including cults, mass suicides, and an uptick in murders and kidnappings. However, one of the people who is trying to control the chaos is Harvey Ellis, who works night shift for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs. It is a government agency that investigates people who are believed to be Absence. If they are truly Absence, the Absence’s remainders get government stipends in an effort to boost morale in the country.
One day, Harvey is given an unexpected assignment: a claim of a Return. In Dawnville, Kansas, a woman who was thought to be Absent is claiming to have returned from the void. She is spreading the word that there is a life after popping. However, can Harvey truly trust the story the woman is spreading, or is she just another rising prophet looking for a flock? Harvey and his partner, Shonda, head to Dawnville to find out.
How would people randomly disappearing out of existence change society? It is an interesting concept that the novel explores. Being alone is considered a dangerous option. If you are alone and you pop, no one would know. There would be no way to tell if you disappeared of your own volition, kidnapped, or popped. It causes people instead to use monitoring systems on themselves so they can constantly update loved ones of their continued existence.
It was also interesting to see how technology changed during this. Transportation had to be automated, including planes, trains, buses, and cars, because if someone popped, there would be no one to control the vehicle. There are still transportation systems that could be run manually, but you couldn’t work it alone. You have to travel at least in pairs.
There is also the concept of a skeptic versus a believer. With people continuously disappearing at a rapid rate with no end in sight, people are looking for answers. In the book, Harvey came across a person who worshipped every known religion just in case one of them would prevent him from popping. In regard to the current case that Harvey is on, he constantly fights with Shonda over the woman who claims that she returned from the void. Harvey desperately wants to believe the woman because there is hope in her story that there is something beyond the popping. However, Shonda believes that the returned woman is pulling the wool over their eyes. The constant back and forth throughout the book illustrates the hope we put on people, especially when it is dealing with the unknown.
One of the things that I found fascinating in the book is how religion changed. People understand the concept of death, but how do you explain the concept of sudden disappearance? Do you treat it like a death or something unexplained? In the book, many different religions are explored. Some new religions are created to explain Absence. Cults had an uprising. Religions like the Catholic Church splinter off into smaller groups, not liking the original teachings. It is interesting to see people’s faith shaken and looking for answers anywhere they can get them. It is more about what makes a person feel safe versus what is right or wrong.
Overall, I really like the book. It makes you wonder how you feel safe in a world where you could randomly disappear without any warning, whether it's through community, religion, or technology. In the spirit of the book, I have the following question: How would you continue to live life with people randomly disappearing out of existence?
One day, Harvey is given an unexpected assignment: a claim of a Return. In Dawnville, Kansas, a woman who was thought to be Absent is claiming to have returned from the void. She is spreading the word that there is a life after popping. However, can Harvey truly trust the story the woman is spreading, or is she just another rising prophet looking for a flock? Harvey and his partner, Shonda, head to Dawnville to find out.
How would people randomly disappearing out of existence change society? It is an interesting concept that the novel explores. Being alone is considered a dangerous option. If you are alone and you pop, no one would know. There would be no way to tell if you disappeared of your own volition, kidnapped, or popped. It causes people instead to use monitoring systems on themselves so they can constantly update loved ones of their continued existence.
It was also interesting to see how technology changed during this. Transportation had to be automated, including planes, trains, buses, and cars, because if someone popped, there would be no one to control the vehicle. There are still transportation systems that could be run manually, but you couldn’t work it alone. You have to travel at least in pairs.
There is also the concept of a skeptic versus a believer. With people continuously disappearing at a rapid rate with no end in sight, people are looking for answers. In the book, Harvey came across a person who worshipped every known religion just in case one of them would prevent him from popping. In regard to the current case that Harvey is on, he constantly fights with Shonda over the woman who claims that she returned from the void. Harvey desperately wants to believe the woman because there is hope in her story that there is something beyond the popping. However, Shonda believes that the returned woman is pulling the wool over their eyes. The constant back and forth throughout the book illustrates the hope we put on people, especially when it is dealing with the unknown.
One of the things that I found fascinating in the book is how religion changed. People understand the concept of death, but how do you explain the concept of sudden disappearance? Do you treat it like a death or something unexplained? In the book, many different religions are explored. Some new religions are created to explain Absence. Cults had an uprising. Religions like the Catholic Church splinter off into smaller groups, not liking the original teachings. It is interesting to see people’s faith shaken and looking for answers anywhere they can get them. It is more about what makes a person feel safe versus what is right or wrong.
Overall, I really like the book. It makes you wonder how you feel safe in a world where you could randomly disappear without any warning, whether it's through community, religion, or technology. In the spirit of the book, I have the following question: How would you continue to live life with people randomly disappearing out of existence?
May 21, 2026
Andrew Dana Hudson’s new novel Absence has a fairly depressing premise and try as he might (and he does not always try) it never really lets up. This is not a criticism for a book that deals directly with issues of grief, loss and belief but it is worth readers knowing before picking it up. Absence has been compared to Ben Winters’ The Last Policeman and it has a similar feel of its protagonists falling back on process to try and deal with existential dread. The setup also echoes, in other very specific ways, the TV series The Leftovers.
The world of Absence is one in which people have, for reasons no one understands, started to randomly ‘pop’ out of existence and never return. The process is called a ‘pop’ due to the noise that is the only indication that someone has gone. Harvey Ellis works for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, aka DePop, his job is to confirm that people have genuinely popped as the government pays compensation to survivors. Harvey is still scarred by the loss of his parents and fiancé in a ‘clusterpop’ where most of the congregants of a church disappeared at the same time.
The plot of Absence centres around an investigation that Harvey is sent on with partner Shonda to the small town of Dawnville Kansas where a woman called Gabriella claims to have returned from wherever it is the missing go. Ten years before, Dawnville had promoted itself as a “safe town” where popping would not happen, a reputation it lost with Gabriella’s disappearance. If this woman it telling the truth it could change the way people think about the whole process of ‘popping’ but there are significant ambiguities in her story. Harvey and Shonda often reference the X-File which is a solid call as Harvey desperately wants to believe while Shonda remains sceptical.
As noted, the world that Hudson has created is a fairly depressing one. People disappear randomly, and those left behind (the remainers) have to pick up the pieces but are also left to wonder when their turn will come. It is a world in gradual but unstoppable decline. As a result there is plenty of consideration of the nature of grief and how people respond to the loss of loved ones. Hudson makes the point a few times that these reactions are not limited to his world but are part of the world we live in now: people die from random accidents, or disappear for no discernible reason. But his scenario feels like an extreme way to contemplate these issues.
Absence feels a little long and there is a lot of setting up that needs to happen in the first third of the novel. But once the ground rules are set it kicks into gear and Hudson delivers some tense set action pieces and some great revelations. The best aspect of Absence is that Hudson holds back from giving any definitive answers. While this is set up as a procedural investigation, readers may not necessarily get the type of closure that they would normally expect (or need).
Absence is a book that starts dark and never quite reaches the light. But that is not necessarily Hudson’s intention. What he succeeds at is creating a plausible scenario and then exploring all of the ways that humans will respond. In doing so he is able to successfully explore the ways in which we deal with real life trauma but in a safely speculative sandpit.
The world of Absence is one in which people have, for reasons no one understands, started to randomly ‘pop’ out of existence and never return. The process is called a ‘pop’ due to the noise that is the only indication that someone has gone. Harvey Ellis works for the Bureau of Depopulation Affairs, aka DePop, his job is to confirm that people have genuinely popped as the government pays compensation to survivors. Harvey is still scarred by the loss of his parents and fiancé in a ‘clusterpop’ where most of the congregants of a church disappeared at the same time.
The plot of Absence centres around an investigation that Harvey is sent on with partner Shonda to the small town of Dawnville Kansas where a woman called Gabriella claims to have returned from wherever it is the missing go. Ten years before, Dawnville had promoted itself as a “safe town” where popping would not happen, a reputation it lost with Gabriella’s disappearance. If this woman it telling the truth it could change the way people think about the whole process of ‘popping’ but there are significant ambiguities in her story. Harvey and Shonda often reference the X-File which is a solid call as Harvey desperately wants to believe while Shonda remains sceptical.
As noted, the world that Hudson has created is a fairly depressing one. People disappear randomly, and those left behind (the remainers) have to pick up the pieces but are also left to wonder when their turn will come. It is a world in gradual but unstoppable decline. As a result there is plenty of consideration of the nature of grief and how people respond to the loss of loved ones. Hudson makes the point a few times that these reactions are not limited to his world but are part of the world we live in now: people die from random accidents, or disappear for no discernible reason. But his scenario feels like an extreme way to contemplate these issues.
Absence feels a little long and there is a lot of setting up that needs to happen in the first third of the novel. But once the ground rules are set it kicks into gear and Hudson delivers some tense set action pieces and some great revelations. The best aspect of Absence is that Hudson holds back from giving any definitive answers. While this is set up as a procedural investigation, readers may not necessarily get the type of closure that they would normally expect (or need).
Absence is a book that starts dark and never quite reaches the light. But that is not necessarily Hudson’s intention. What he succeeds at is creating a plausible scenario and then exploring all of the ways that humans will respond. In doing so he is able to successfully explore the ways in which we deal with real life trauma but in a safely speculative sandpit.
May 13, 2026
I was attracted to this book by the publishers description. The premise being, a world that is unravelling from an epidemic of human vanishing. Spontaneous. Suddenly not there. A bit like in The Time Travellers Wife, but in this book they remain clothed as they travel, somewhere... The disappearing phenomena is known broadly as Depopulation. And of course the Government is concerned.
The plot revolves around two employee of the Bureau of Depopulation who are sent to investigate a young woman who claims to have returned from a disappearance. This is rumoured to have happened but has never been verified. So far, so good. I enjoyed the opening chapters.
But they were not enough. I was some hours into the audiobook version and with several more hours to go, I decided not to continue. Besides the plot, there wasn’t enough incentive to continue. The investigators were stereotyped. A pair of cops. One feisty, with swagger, full of attitude and lots of clever, snappy dialogue. The other was quiet, thoughtful, diligent, conscientious. Good cop, bad cop when it came to interrogations. The plot was very slow to develop. Over a third of the way into the book, there was little to keep me listening. Someone had disappeared a decade ago and our investigators were slowly investigating whether this person really had returned. Or was it all fake ? Noting much had happen. Noting much was revealed. No doubt it will eventually.
I felt some interest in one of the investigators, the deep, thoughtful one. He had a history that resonated with the plot. Most of the other charactered were somewhat cliched. Shallow, underdeveloped. I had little interest in what became of them. There was a lot of dialogue. Over-scripted, back-and-forth banter between the investigators. Almost too much and it began to have a sense of a screenplay rather than a novel. A Fox Mulder and Dana Scully vibe.
The background and atmosphere was unusual given the not infrequent disappearances that kept happening. Apart from some public service advice (for example on driving alone or regularly checking in with family and friends), the government and authorities carried on, almost as normal. Annoyed by the situation; disappearing people were a nuisance to deal with. There seemed to be little widespread panic, anxiety or end-of-world behaviour. Some, but not what you might expect, given the circumstances.
The overall tone and atmosphere was almost film-noir. A somewhat dark plot, a couple of hard-working cops, unusual events to be explained, people to be questioned. A sci-fi element of course, but it was more in the background; at least in the first part of the book. Characters were slow to develop. Or remained shallow and one-dimensional. Unfortunately, not very compelling or interesting. In closing, this wasn’t what I was expecting, and about a third of the way through, it did not provide enough incentive to finish. Not a bad book, just not a book for me.
The plot revolves around two employee of the Bureau of Depopulation who are sent to investigate a young woman who claims to have returned from a disappearance. This is rumoured to have happened but has never been verified. So far, so good. I enjoyed the opening chapters.
But they were not enough. I was some hours into the audiobook version and with several more hours to go, I decided not to continue. Besides the plot, there wasn’t enough incentive to continue. The investigators were stereotyped. A pair of cops. One feisty, with swagger, full of attitude and lots of clever, snappy dialogue. The other was quiet, thoughtful, diligent, conscientious. Good cop, bad cop when it came to interrogations. The plot was very slow to develop. Over a third of the way into the book, there was little to keep me listening. Someone had disappeared a decade ago and our investigators were slowly investigating whether this person really had returned. Or was it all fake ? Noting much had happen. Noting much was revealed. No doubt it will eventually.
I felt some interest in one of the investigators, the deep, thoughtful one. He had a history that resonated with the plot. Most of the other charactered were somewhat cliched. Shallow, underdeveloped. I had little interest in what became of them. There was a lot of dialogue. Over-scripted, back-and-forth banter between the investigators. Almost too much and it began to have a sense of a screenplay rather than a novel. A Fox Mulder and Dana Scully vibe.
The background and atmosphere was unusual given the not infrequent disappearances that kept happening. Apart from some public service advice (for example on driving alone or regularly checking in with family and friends), the government and authorities carried on, almost as normal. Annoyed by the situation; disappearing people were a nuisance to deal with. There seemed to be little widespread panic, anxiety or end-of-world behaviour. Some, but not what you might expect, given the circumstances.
The overall tone and atmosphere was almost film-noir. A somewhat dark plot, a couple of hard-working cops, unusual events to be explained, people to be questioned. A sci-fi element of course, but it was more in the background; at least in the first part of the book. Characters were slow to develop. Or remained shallow and one-dimensional. Unfortunately, not very compelling or interesting. In closing, this wasn’t what I was expecting, and about a third of the way through, it did not provide enough incentive to finish. Not a bad book, just not a book for me.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Reading this book made me realize a couple of important things:
1. Great writing can keep you engaged in a story, especially in the messy middle.
2. My favorite genre is speculative fiction. Sci-fi and fantasy are great, but the philosophical touches that come with speculative fiction are uniquely engrossing.
With all of that said, this is a very interesting story. If you enjoy speculative fiction, you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for shades of fantasy, action, or sci-fi this may not be for you as this is not a speculative fiction that crosses into other genres.
I was immediately engaged in the main character, the setting, and the world-building. It had an interesting, if unusual mystery grounding the plot. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the work of Jasper Fforde or Kazuo Ishiguro. The world building and specificity are like Fforde while the philosophical musings remind me of Ishiguro.
What I valued most was the writing. Not only is it written clearly, it is also written for adults. Over the past couple of years, I have struggled to get through many more recent Fantasy, SciFi, and Speculative fiction books because they do not read as though they are written much more conversationally and focused on serving a TikTok or Instagram audience rather than readers.
Sometimes I have a hard time finishing books where the writing feels undisciplined. That was not the case with Absence. While reading you could tell certain words were chosen with precision to convey information in a specific way. As a consequence, the prose was not only absorbing, but it extended the mystery at the heart of the story effectively.
While I truly enjoyed this book, it does not earn 5 stars for two very specific reasons. This is a story without humor. It is quite dark, and while I am sometimes in the mood for that, I do not think I was in the state of mind for such a heavy story. This was compounded by the book's length. While not long (around 450 pages) there are several points where the reader things the end is near, but the story continues. That is not a criticism, the overall story finishes strong, but it does meander in the middle.
While including more moments of levity would reduce the impact of the story, there are several editing choices that might have improved the pacing without sacrificing quality. That being said, I would highly recommend this book. It is excellent.
Thank you to NetGalley and Soho (quickly becoming a standout publisher of Speculative Fiction), for the ARC.
1. Great writing can keep you engaged in a story, especially in the messy middle.
2. My favorite genre is speculative fiction. Sci-fi and fantasy are great, but the philosophical touches that come with speculative fiction are uniquely engrossing.
With all of that said, this is a very interesting story. If you enjoy speculative fiction, you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for shades of fantasy, action, or sci-fi this may not be for you as this is not a speculative fiction that crosses into other genres.
I was immediately engaged in the main character, the setting, and the world-building. It had an interesting, if unusual mystery grounding the plot. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the work of Jasper Fforde or Kazuo Ishiguro. The world building and specificity are like Fforde while the philosophical musings remind me of Ishiguro.
What I valued most was the writing. Not only is it written clearly, it is also written for adults. Over the past couple of years, I have struggled to get through many more recent Fantasy, SciFi, and Speculative fiction books because they do not read as though they are written much more conversationally and focused on serving a TikTok or Instagram audience rather than readers.
Sometimes I have a hard time finishing books where the writing feels undisciplined. That was not the case with Absence. While reading you could tell certain words were chosen with precision to convey information in a specific way. As a consequence, the prose was not only absorbing, but it extended the mystery at the heart of the story effectively.
While I truly enjoyed this book, it does not earn 5 stars for two very specific reasons. This is a story without humor. It is quite dark, and while I am sometimes in the mood for that, I do not think I was in the state of mind for such a heavy story. This was compounded by the book's length. While not long (around 450 pages) there are several points where the reader things the end is near, but the story continues. That is not a criticism, the overall story finishes strong, but it does meander in the middle.
While including more moments of levity would reduce the impact of the story, there are several editing choices that might have improved the pacing without sacrificing quality. That being said, I would highly recommend this book. It is excellent.
Thank you to NetGalley and Soho (quickly becoming a standout publisher of Speculative Fiction), for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Rating: B+
Received from netgalley in exchange for a review.
Absence is a strange book. It could make a pretty compelling tv series or movie. Something you'd see on the sci-fi channel. The story follows two agents, Harvey, a young straight white guy, and Shonda, his black coworker with whom he has a sexual affair. The two are investigating the disappearance of Gabriela Reyes, a girl who vanished as a teenager due to a phenomena called Popping (where a person spontaneously disappears out of existence) and returns some years later claiming to have returned from another dimension.
As you can expect there's been some huge upheavals in society in general given the suddenness and unpredictable nature of popping. People now have to do everything in pairs in case they disappear and the government gives a payment to those related popped individuals to help them continue on with life. There's multiple parts of the spectrum: those who choose to ignore depop as they can't prevent it, those who see it as a revelatory sign and those who stop their lives to live in peace awaiting the pop.
One thing I found a bit strange about the world was that, for some reason, popping motivates the us government to build a functional rail system. Why? Now no one is going to really be using it so wheres the money in it? People still travel internationally, everyone is still living in a capitalist hell! Not even the end of the world can stop the machine from turning.
I found the book quite compelling when it came to the character discussions between Shonda and Harvey. Harvey is adrift in his life just working a job he doesn't care about given it's one of the easiest to get, dispassionate about life since his girlfriend popped. Shonda has a husband and child and so she feels more attached to living with purpose. O feel like Harvey could be any of us born too late to really flourish as easily as anyone else could've and the absence system is one that likely would be attractive to people who are just waiting to die or are one pay cheque away from homelessness.
I won't lie and say I'm not somewhat disappointed in the direction the story went but I didn't enjoy it as a mystery drama, less there being not so much science fiction to it.
The whole world has such a feel of there being a haze over the people living in it.
Worth reading if you like a slow paced mystery. Compelling characters.
Received from netgalley in exchange for a review.
Absence is a strange book. It could make a pretty compelling tv series or movie. Something you'd see on the sci-fi channel. The story follows two agents, Harvey, a young straight white guy, and Shonda, his black coworker with whom he has a sexual affair. The two are investigating the disappearance of Gabriela Reyes, a girl who vanished as a teenager due to a phenomena called Popping (where a person spontaneously disappears out of existence) and returns some years later claiming to have returned from another dimension.
As you can expect there's been some huge upheavals in society in general given the suddenness and unpredictable nature of popping. People now have to do everything in pairs in case they disappear and the government gives a payment to those related popped individuals to help them continue on with life. There's multiple parts of the spectrum: those who choose to ignore depop as they can't prevent it, those who see it as a revelatory sign and those who stop their lives to live in peace awaiting the pop.
One thing I found a bit strange about the world was that, for some reason, popping motivates the us government to build a functional rail system. Why? Now no one is going to really be using it so wheres the money in it? People still travel internationally, everyone is still living in a capitalist hell! Not even the end of the world can stop the machine from turning.
I found the book quite compelling when it came to the character discussions between Shonda and Harvey. Harvey is adrift in his life just working a job he doesn't care about given it's one of the easiest to get, dispassionate about life since his girlfriend popped. Shonda has a husband and child and so she feels more attached to living with purpose. O feel like Harvey could be any of us born too late to really flourish as easily as anyone else could've and the absence system is one that likely would be attractive to people who are just waiting to die or are one pay cheque away from homelessness.
I won't lie and say I'm not somewhat disappointed in the direction the story went but I didn't enjoy it as a mystery drama, less there being not so much science fiction to it.
The whole world has such a feel of there being a haze over the people living in it.
Worth reading if you like a slow paced mystery. Compelling characters.
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