Mindkiller: A Novel of the Near Future

Inventive, well paced, and relevant. If you are a Spider fan coming from his Callahan novels, you may not like this much. If you are looking for the best book Spider has ever produced, then this is the one.

This book is excellent, a science fiction mystery with multiple plot twists and fascinating ideas, and a positive, uplifting, the world will be a better place in the future ending. I loved the characters, and thought the characterization of the memory loss and the abused woman were amazingly accurate, close enough to my own emotions to make me have to set the book down for a bit and catch my breath. The book surprised me several times, a very hard thing to do, and I love reading all his work.

Reaching the ultimate 'high' has been the goal of a considerable portion of the human race for a very long time. The methods used to try to reach that point have ranged from an incredible variety of mind-altering drugs to deep meditation to self-induced hypnotic trances. So when a new way of reaching that high comes along, direct electrical stimulation of the mind's pleasure center via a surgical implant and a small external device, is it any wonder that a significant number of people would jump for it? And once connected, that there would be some who desire its pleasurable effects so much that they would die happy remaining connected while their bodies waste away from dehydration and starvation? From this beginning idea (which has also been the subject of treatments by authors such as Larry Niven), Spider goes not just one, but several steps further. Seeing that this technology is just the beginning of deep research into how the mind and memory really work, he envisions that it would eventually lead to knowledge of how to erase selective memories, how to index and store them, and eventually how to transfer them from one person to another. The story is wrapped around this idea, beginning from Joe, a man missing some of his own memories and totally hidden from society's identification systems, finding Karen, nearly dead, hooked to one of these pleasure tasps, and his slow succoring of her back to health. When they go on a crusade to destroy the maker of such hideously addictive devices, they stumble across information leading them to believe there is one man who controls not just these devices, but has the power to erase a person's memories at will, a power so immense, and so impossible to trace, that he can do anything he desires. As a parallel track, we follow the story of Norman, an assistant professor whose life is falling apart, from his marriage to his job, whose older sister mysteriously disappears one day, and his search for her. Spider does a good job of tying together these disparate threads, with a conclusion that may seem a little over-dramatic but which drives home his thematic points.His themes deal with just how absolute power may not corrupt, but instead ennoble, but with an under-text of 'end justifying the means'; of a possible goal of really being able to understand how someone else feels by actually 'reading' their thoughts; of identity and right to privacy; of when and to whom loyalty should be given; and 'Chinese' obligations. Some of his thoughts on these subjects seemed a little facile to me, not completely thought through or all consequences investigated, but they are all, within the context of this story, very thought provoking.Joe, Karen, and Norman are all very well realized characters, in many ways very reminiscent of some of Robert Heinlein's character types, which is not surprising as Spider honors Heinlein as one of his main mentors. These characters have strength, intelligence, and inner integrity; character trait

the author is this generations Hienlen . this is one of his best works. a great plot with many twists. i didn't want the book to end.

An excellent "didactic" book, this book presents the lives of two men in a world of the not too distant future that are getting a little too close for comfort to the secretive group that learned how the human mind works, and how memory can be erased. A very dangerous secret even to know about, for all involved.The search for the "powers in control" quickly turns dangerous.The story presents a world that is neither to utopic nor too dystopic, and thus quite believable.The plot accelerates steadily to a dual climax for the two "streams of consciousness."Spider Robinson's "Callahan" stories may be more readily approachable; Mindkiller seems to me to be his best novel.