What do you think?
Rate this book
Soul Searching
Best Novel 2020 Finalist — African Speculative Fiction Society NOMMO Awards
"Soul Searching is a philosophical thriller that engages readers through a combination of complexity, action and imagination. The melange of ideas makes for a rich and intricate tale.”
— Damien Lawardorn, Aurealis #138.
"A quick-paced narrative written with precision and interlaced with registers of the criminal and banal, magical and real, spiritual and technological, futuristic and current.
This debut exemplifies the work of a sensitive writer with a gift for imagining the inner lives and afterlives of humans.”
— Joanna Woods, Africa in Words.
"Soul Searching applies spirituality to mechanics and crime solving, to healing and recovering our humanity, in the timeless universal that cuts across cultures worldwide, but also in the immediate reality of the multicultural local, where time is running out, and people will die."
— Mame Bougouma Diene, Strange Horizons.
Science has learned to understand the soul, and can track souls through this life and beyond.
A specialist unit of the South African police is using a Soul Tracker device in a harrowing search for a serial killer. As Tracker Ruth Hicks and her partner Franklin Banks race to find the killer before the next victim dies, the case becomes frighteningly personal. They begin to question the morality of their methods.
When one's soul can incriminate them before birth, can there ever be justice?
Who can be trusted with the power to look inside the soul?
This science fiction novel by South African author Stephen Embleton has been likened to a mix of Minority Report and Silence of the Lambs, with unique ideas all its own. The thrilling story features a serial killer, new and disturbing technology, and an ancient secret society. And flying cars!
"Soul Searching is a philosophical thriller that engages readers through a combination of complexity, action and imagination. The melange of ideas makes for a rich and intricate tale.”
— Damien Lawardorn, Aurealis #138.
"A quick-paced narrative written with precision and interlaced with registers of the criminal and banal, magical and real, spiritual and technological, futuristic and current.
This debut exemplifies the work of a sensitive writer with a gift for imagining the inner lives and afterlives of humans.”
— Joanna Woods, Africa in Words.
"Soul Searching applies spirituality to mechanics and crime solving, to healing and recovering our humanity, in the timeless universal that cuts across cultures worldwide, but also in the immediate reality of the multicultural local, where time is running out, and people will die."
— Mame Bougouma Diene, Strange Horizons.
Science has learned to understand the soul, and can track souls through this life and beyond.
A specialist unit of the South African police is using a Soul Tracker device in a harrowing search for a serial killer. As Tracker Ruth Hicks and her partner Franklin Banks race to find the killer before the next victim dies, the case becomes frighteningly personal. They begin to question the morality of their methods.
When one's soul can incriminate them before birth, can there ever be justice?
Who can be trusted with the power to look inside the soul?
This science fiction novel by South African author Stephen Embleton has been likened to a mix of Minority Report and Silence of the Lambs, with unique ideas all its own. The thrilling story features a serial killer, new and disturbing technology, and an ancient secret society. And flying cars!
- GenresScience FictionFiction
368 pages, Paperback
Published September 18, 2020
About the author
Stephen Embleton
9 books7 followersStephen was born in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is now a resident in Oxford, United Kingdom, since being an academic visitor to the African Studies Centre, University of Oxford in 2022. Stephen was awarded the Best Novella by an African in the 7th Nommo Awards presented in person at Glasgow WorldCon in August 2024 for his Sauúti-based novella, "Undulation". His background is Graphic Design, Creative Direction and Film.
His first short story was published in 2015 in the "Imagine Africa 500" speculative fiction anthology, followed by more in the “Beneath This Skin” 2016 Edition of Aké Review, “The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! Vol.2”, the debut edition of Enkare Review 2017, The Bloody Parchment, AfroSFv3, The Kalahari Review, Burning House Press, Omenana Magazine, and The Shallow Tales Review. He was featured in Part 11 of the 100 African Writers of SFF on Strange Horizons.
His debut speculative fiction novel, Soul Searching, was published in the UK and US in August/September 2020. He is a charter member of the African Speculative Fiction Society and its Nommo Awards initiative.
His then unpublished YA fantasy novel, Bones & Runes, was a top 5 finalist in the 2021 inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature, and was first published in the UK in February 2022. Awarded the James Currey Fellowship at African Studies Centre, Oxford University 2022. His essay "There is Magic in African Literature" (and cover feature) was published in the University of Oxford, African Studies Centre 2022 Newsletter.
Stephen was invited as an Academic Visitor to the African Studies Centre, Oxford University 2022. Stephen was the editor of the 2023 edition of the posthumously published final novel of Flora Nwapa, The Lake Goddess. He is one of the ten African writers making up the Sauúti Collective – the Afro-centric, fantasy and speculative fiction shared-world. The first Sauúti anthology, Mothersound, was published in 2023. He was on the Sauúti Collective panel at the Aké Arts & Book Festival 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria, as well hosting at the panel at Africa Writes in London in 2023.
Stephen was awarded a literary grant by the Royal Literary Fund in 2024, providing financial assistance to write while recognising the literary merit of his body of work and literature-related activities.
Stephen’s academic essay, "Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism", appears in the 2024 Bloomsbury essay collection 'Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction'.
Stephen is the co-editor, alongside Cheryl Ntumy and Eugen Bacon, on the second Sauúti anthology – "Sauúti Terrors" out in two volumes in 2026 and 2027 through Flame Tree Publishing and Simon & Schuster.
His first short story was published in 2015 in the "Imagine Africa 500" speculative fiction anthology, followed by more in the “Beneath This Skin” 2016 Edition of Aké Review, “The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! Vol.2”, the debut edition of Enkare Review 2017, The Bloody Parchment, AfroSFv3, The Kalahari Review, Burning House Press, Omenana Magazine, and The Shallow Tales Review. He was featured in Part 11 of the 100 African Writers of SFF on Strange Horizons.
His debut speculative fiction novel, Soul Searching, was published in the UK and US in August/September 2020. He is a charter member of the African Speculative Fiction Society and its Nommo Awards initiative.
His then unpublished YA fantasy novel, Bones & Runes, was a top 5 finalist in the 2021 inaugural James Currey Prize for African Literature, and was first published in the UK in February 2022. Awarded the James Currey Fellowship at African Studies Centre, Oxford University 2022. His essay "There is Magic in African Literature" (and cover feature) was published in the University of Oxford, African Studies Centre 2022 Newsletter.
Stephen was invited as an Academic Visitor to the African Studies Centre, Oxford University 2022. Stephen was the editor of the 2023 edition of the posthumously published final novel of Flora Nwapa, The Lake Goddess. He is one of the ten African writers making up the Sauúti Collective – the Afro-centric, fantasy and speculative fiction shared-world. The first Sauúti anthology, Mothersound, was published in 2023. He was on the Sauúti Collective panel at the Aké Arts & Book Festival 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria, as well hosting at the panel at Africa Writes in London in 2023.
Stephen was awarded a literary grant by the Royal Literary Fund in 2024, providing financial assistance to write while recognising the literary merit of his body of work and literature-related activities.
Stephen’s academic essay, "Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism", appears in the 2024 Bloomsbury essay collection 'Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction'.
Stephen is the co-editor, alongside Cheryl Ntumy and Eugen Bacon, on the second Sauúti anthology – "Sauúti Terrors" out in two volumes in 2026 and 2027 through Flame Tree Publishing and Simon & Schuster.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 8, 2024
I picked up Soul Searching at a sci-fi festival, as I wanted to try something new from an independent publisher. Set in near-future South Africa, it follows a police department called Trackers who are hunting a serial killer using esoteric soul tracking technology. This allows then to track individuals both geographically while they're alive and into the afterlife. In general, I found the novel's ideas very interesting but their execution a bit patchy. The plot tackles big existential and theological themes, without really doing them justice. The dialogue was stilted when discussing souls and philosophy, although it became fun when characters bantered in South African slang. I think the whole novel could have done with a bit more development and editing, to bring out its full potential.
Nonetheless, I was impressed by a serial killer plot that felt genuinely original for once. To my surprise, I therefore found the crime procedural elements more involving than the deeper, more philosophical stuff. The action sequences also worked better for me than much of the dialogue. There are some thrilling chases and an amusing vein of cynicism about flying cars. This point is belaboured in dialogue before events bear it out entertainingly. There are some fun and distinctive elements in Soul Searching although it feels under-cooked overall.
Nonetheless, I was impressed by a serial killer plot that felt genuinely original for once. To my surprise, I therefore found the crime procedural elements more involving than the deeper, more philosophical stuff. The action sequences also worked better for me than much of the dialogue. There are some thrilling chases and an amusing vein of cynicism about flying cars. This point is belaboured in dialogue before events bear it out entertainingly. There are some fun and distinctive elements in Soul Searching although it feels under-cooked overall.
Read
February 4, 2021Another for the 'can't rate 'cos I read an early draft box' – this one was a manuscript assessment from a while back, but I'd highly recommend to anyone wanting disquieting existential SF set in South Africa.
April 7, 2026
Frustrating read. The Good: believable dialog that reinforced relationships between characters, clear and intense action scenes. BUT, way too many characters, and I couldn't keep track. One of the main characters, Ruth, was a Tracker who had empathetic abilities to connect with others, AND believed that it was okay to take a child away from a family if a criminal's soul had entered them, because they could be rehabilitated. Hard to believe that since she was an empath. But, okayyy. Then everyone thinks a killer's soul has entered her son, and what does she do? Runs away to keep her kid. Okayyy. BUT I needed to hear her have regrets about how she had affected families from the past, taking their kids, and that her world view should now be different. Never acknowledged it. Yuck. Then there was a group from Atlantis who really knew what was going on with souls and wanted to shut down the Trackers, but their ideas were all over the place. Impossible. How can you impact anything if you can't pin an idea down? One other complaint, what was up with all the missing prepositions in the text? Maybe that's a South African thing, but kept triggering me and popping me out of the story.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews