This book manages to both impress and fail to impress, on account of its strong plot and weak narration.
The conception is realistic, exciting3.5 Stars
This book manages to both impress and fail to impress, on account of its strong plot and weak narration.
The conception is realistic, exciting, and has enough elements of SF - that of a world teeming with graded Espers or mind-readers who police the world that has now expanded to settle on various planets, and catch the criminal before he can even properly lay on the plan.
In 2301, Ben Reich, owner of Monarch corporation, decides, in murderous passion, to murder (of, course) his rival - knowing well enough that it is nearly impossible. A premeditated murder can be easily detected by the Peepers. And he intends to not only commit it, but also get away with it - in a world where murder has been unheard of for at least 80 years.
And he succeeds. Police Prefect Powell, a Grade 1 Esper, knows it is him, but cannot nail him down. And thus begins the cat and mouse game to implicate Reich before THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE devours Reich.
It could have been amazing - the conception is strong, but fails on account of the clumsy, unbelievable narration. The motivations of the characters are too fast, too abrupt to allow the reader to enjoy the work. Comes across as phony when it could have been simply amazing. The narrative mars a solid concept, a promising story and nearly ruins it.
The only lines I liked in this work are these words that come at the end: “Be grateful that you only see the outward man. Be grateful that you never see the passions, the hatreds, the jealousies, the malice, the sicknesses... Be grateful you rarely see the frightening truth in people.” And this is the only time I really felt like I had any insight in any character of this story.
The world-building is not only adequate, but in fact, novel, innovative, far ahead of its time and yet plausible. But too many things seem artificial, some things fall into place too conveniently, and the dialogues are plain pathetic.
And to think how much more scope in this novel has been wasted! THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE was such a beautiful trope - the psychological aspect that could have elevated the novel from a mere run-of-the-mill thriller to a psychological masterpiece - the Freudian elements were barely touched upon in a novel that focused so much on the gradations of Espers on the basis of their ability to peep into the layers of the mind.
The play of the conscious, subconscious and the unconscious was the perfect place to play out the game - Reich outwitting the Espers, pitting two Class 1 Espers against each other would have been so much fun, apart from the brilliant expositions Bester could have made deriving from Freud or Lacan or whoever he wished.
The conception is superb - but the execution is deeply flawed. The story wasn't properly explored, leaving quite a few glaring loopholes and other lapses, not to mention the narrative that bogged down the work even more.
And yes, what was it with female characters in the 50s? Why did all of them have to be fawning, helpless creatures waiting in the sidelines for their man to come and deliver them? Did this story really need Barbara or Mary in the way they were used towards the end? And how stupidly convenient was the resolution for Powell and Barbara - honestly, I'd already seen through it long before it actually came.
In the end, I'm only glad it didn't clinch the Nebula, because Nebulas came much later - it is way too flawed. As for the Hugo, well, I can see how radical this would have seemed in the 50s, and well, who cared back then about how women were depicted, anyway? And in any case, this was the first work to get a Hugo, so there was no set benchmark for it to be judged against.
To be concise, disappointed is the word. Great conception that descends into mediocrity. The stars are only for the world-building and plot-outline....more
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