The Essence

by Dave Hutchinson

There is a phenomenon – a force, a spirit, a flaw in Reality – known as the Essence, which can manifest at random, often with dire effect.

Michael Brookes, an economist working for a small outstation of MI6 attached to the Treasury, is sent to the Netherlands by his department, where he narrowly escapes being kidnapped; and that’s just the start of his problems. Michael has never heard of the Essence, but some very powerful people believe otherwise. Despite his protestations, they will stop at nothing to discover what he knows.

The problem is that Michael, who is recovering from a catastrophic breakdown, has large gaps in his memory... So he can’t rule out the possibility that they might be right.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 9, 2025

About the author

UK writer who published four volumes of stories by the age of twenty-one – Thumbprints, which is mostly fantasy, Fools' Gold, Torn Air and The Paradise Equation, all as David Hutchinson – and then moved into journalism. The deftness and quiet humaneness of his work was better than precocious, though the deracinatedness of the worlds depicted in the later stories may have derived in part from the author's apparent isolation from normal publishing channels.

After a decade of nonfiction, Hutchinson returned to the field as Dave Hutchinson, assembling later work in As the Crow Flies; tales like "The Pavement Artist" use sf devices to represent, far more fully than in his early work, a sense of the world as inherently and tragically not a platform for Transcendence. His first novel, The Villages, is Fantasy; The Push, an sf tale set in the Human Space sector of the home galaxy, describes the inception of Faster Than Light travel and some consequent complications when expanding humanity settles on a planet full of Alien life. Europe in Autumn (2014), an sf thriller involving espionage, takes place in a highly fragmented and still fragmenting Near-Future Europe, one of whose sovereign mini-nations is a transcontinental railway line; over the course of the central plot – which seems to reflect some aspects of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 – the protagonist becomes involved in the Paranoia-inducing Les Coureurs des Bois, a mysterious postal service which also delivers humans across innumerable borders.

- See more at: http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/hutc...

Works
* The Villages (Holicong, Pennsylvania: Cosmos Books, 2001)
* Europe in Autumn (Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rebellion/Solaris, 2014)

Collections and Stories
* Thumbprints (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Fools' Gold (London: Abelard, 1978)
* Torn Air (London: Abelard, 1980)
* The Paradise Equation (London: Abelard, 1981)
* As the Crow Flies (Wigan, Lancashire: BeWrite Books, 2004)
* The Push (Alconbury Weston, Cambridgeshire: NewCon Press, 2009)

Reviews

[Fastnbulbous · Rating 4 out of 5]

British writer Hutchinson established himself as a talented writer with his Europe series in 2014-18, a hybrid SF/spy thriller. His brand new book, just published on Dec 9, is bracingly original, with the closest comparison I can think of being Christopher Priest's The Glamour (1984) which I read earlier this year. Like that book, our hero Michael Brookes is in a hospital with a large gap in his memory. He's an economist working for MI6, and though he's unsure he's fully recovered, let along restored his memory, they give him a sensitive assignment to the Netherlands. There, it turns out multiple groups from France, Denmark and the United States very badly want to kidnap him and extract information about a phenomenon referred to as the Essence -- seemingly supernatural events that have occurred throughout history, but are becoming documented more frequently as more people have access to cameras. He has no idea how they found him, or why they want him, which suggests that someone know more about himself than he does. The book ends up with more metaphysical and philosophical questions than answers, along the lines of Philip K. Dick. It definitely has me eager to check out his previous work to see if I might have a new favorite author.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book of 2026 and likely to be one of my favourites. I loved the Fractured Europe series and this has a similar vibe, although it's set in the present day. The premise made me think Sapphire and Steel - a mysterious otherworldly force that can alter or damage reality - and the main character, Michael, is a confused innocent you can't help rooting for.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it

I’m a huge Dave Hutchinson fan and this book, whilst quite different than his Coureurs series, echos it in the best ways. The last 25 pages or so shocked me. Quite a good read and I hope it turns into a series.

[John Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible! A very unique story told well.

[Abe Ziesing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Hutchinson: “Do you believe in miracles?”
Me: “I do now!”

2025 was a year filled with plenty of mediocrity when it comes to new genre SF released within the calendar year – with a scant couple of exceptions - that I got a chance to read, anyway. There was Tchaikovsky’s SHROUD with its crazy world-building and Nayler’s award-worthy WHERE THE AXE IS BURRIED that come to mind. One under-the-radar small press release left them all in the dust; in fact, it blew away everything SF that I read all year, and that includes some heavy hitters from the likes of Ballard, Wolfe, Vance, PKD, Zelazny, Banks, Lafferty, etc.. What I’m really trying to say is that THE ESSENCE by Dave Hutchinson is an absolute banger that is inexplicably absent from bookshops and best-of lists, despite its greatness.

Michael is confused. He knows that he’s had some sort of accident that precipitated memory loss, but he’s not quite sure how to start putting the pieces back together despite the hospital’s best rehabilitation efforts in the form of medications, psychiatry and gentle nudges. When he’s unceremoniously released back into the wild and returns to his job as an economist at a small outstation of MI6, things start to come back in fits and starts. His employer wants him to take baby steps, starting with a seemingly simple task on the continent. Cue jet engine firing up noise. Get your seatbelt nice and snug because you’re about to take a ride in a whirlwind of a spy thriller, or is that just an illusory tactic of the author’s to draw the reader into an increasingly baffling world that makes ROADSIDE PICNIC feel… well, like a picnic? Riding a razor’s edge between a catatonic relapse and finding the answers to his life’s missing pieces, Michael must navigate a jigsaw puzzle of conspiracy theorists, governmental special agents and religious crazies in order to save himself, and maybe the world.

This book features some of the coolest science fiction elements and a writing style that is silky smooth. It’s a sure-fire hit for anyone from the mainstreamiest Mary Sue to the trekiest Trekkie dude. Utterly readable, with a pace-car tempo and a mic-drop ending that left me smiling and laughing and shaking my head long after I set it down. Miracles do exist, Mr. Hutchinson. Thank you for reminding me!

[Gary Meades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Hutchinson is the author of just about my favourite ever series, the Fractured Europe sequence, so I had great hopes for this. I wasn't disappointed.

Michael Brookes, an economist working for SIS is in hospital with large gaps in his memory. Slowly recovering he is discharged and sent on a sensitive assignment to the Netherlands. So far, so spy novel, but the trip to the Netherlands opens up a whole new vista. There are groups who want him for his knowledge of the Essence, a phenomena that causes events that are impossible.

What follows is a game of cat and mouse, slow reveals about the history of Essence appearances and a mindboggling twist that I really didn't see coming.

The ending leaves more questions than answers, and I really hope there will be a sequel soon. Loved it.