Hype. The modern American way of getting attention. It seems to have worked for John Twelve Hawks, the pseudonym for the author of The Traveler.
The book is a cautionary tale set in the near future (or today) about the pervasiveness of surveillance and intrusions on privacy. Twelve Hawks claims to live "off the grid," avoiding contact with "the Vast Machine," the worldwide system of computer systems and cameras that track our daily lives. Twelve Hawks isn't doing a book tour. He doesn't do media appearances or interviews. He has not met with his publisher in person, speaking only by satellite phone. Random House has launched a sophisticated web page for the book. There are plans for it to be the first in a three-book series, and the movie rights already have been optioned.
All this hype has pushed Twelve Hawks and his book into the pages of the national press and onto the New York Times bestseller list. Hype may be necessary because the tale boils down to a battle between the Illuminati and Buddhist/new age philosophy over whether anyone will retain any privacy in the modern world.
The world of The Traveler consists basically of four groups. At top are the Brethren, also know as the Tabula. They control the computer systems and surveillance cameras, and are the shadows behind what are essentially puppet governments. For decades, they have been hunting and exterminating The Travelers, individuals with the ability to have their inner "Light" leave their body and travel to different realms. Travelers have been responsible for bringing beneficial change to the world throughout history. Travelers are guarded by the Harlequins, ninja-like martial arts and weapons experts whose sole purpose is to protect Travelers from harm and combat the Tabula. Like the Brethren, Harlequins have virtually disappeared in modern society. Everyone else is a "citizen," more accurately, drones going about their lives ignorant of the true state of affairs.
Almost all Travelers have been eradicated, but the Brethren now want to find a Traveler and use a quantum computer to map his or her brain during travel to another realm. Michael and Gabriel Corrigan are the sons of a Traveler believed to have been killed by the Tabula when they were adolescents. The Corrigans, though, do not know their father was a Traveler. In fact, no one knows if Michael or Gabriel might be Travelers. Still, the Brethren are searching for them, to find out if they are Travelers and, if so, make one or both of them part of their plan. At the same time, Maya, a Harlequin in England who has fought being a Harlequin her entire life, sets out on a mission to locate and protect the Corrigans from the Brethren.