Paranoia: Title Deleted for Security Reasons

by Edward Bolme

Book by Bolme, Ed, Bolme, Edward

Genres: Science Fiction, Gaming

346 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

In Alpha Complex - a future which is equal parts Stalinism and Looney Tunes - James B-OND-1, elite Internal Security agent, finds himself enmeshed in a particularly fiendish investigation of Commie mutant traitors with only a rather too hefty foundrybot for back-up. Worse, he's missed a few doses of hormone suppressants, so finds himself strangely interested by pictures of clones in breach of uniform regulations, and the treasonous business of 'kissing'...

I'd had no idea that any novels had ever been spun off from the blackly manic Paranoia RPG until I found this on my first (and thus far only) trawl of South Norwood's charity shops. It makes perfect sense, though - unless you had exactly the right group, as a game it was often a lot more fun to read than play. And there was definitely a strain in US SF writing back in the eighties and early nineties which shared the game's sense of combined satire, absurdity and high body count; Sheckley would be the most obvious exemplar. Sheckley, though, generally knew that this stuff works best short and sweet, his books tending to come in around or under 200 pages. Title Deleted for Security Reasons clocks in past 340, which feels like too much. I can see why Bolme wouldn't have wanted to lose any of his plot convolutions, ridiculous puns or lethal slapstick set-pieces, because individually none of them is an identifiable weak point. But in combination, they feel like a commendably patriotic yet excessively high dose of Bouncy Bubble Beverage.

[Ginger K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never played the game this book is based on, but I appreciate humor in the dystopic, Computer-ruled future. (The footnotes make the book.)