Not with a Bang - P2888

by Chapman Pincher -

It was incredible but true. For months an obscure British scientist named Robert Harvey had been testing his revolutionary drug Juvenex in the greatest privacy; both he and his wife had been taking it with increasingly visible results. Now, after the formal experiment on a dying child, there was no longer any doubt. He quickly notified the government. A dedicated scientist with little thought of the possible consequences, Harvey had discovered a drug that could reverse the aging process and prolong life indefinitely. The repercussions of the discovery, affecting millions of lives throughout the world, form the basis of this brilliant and wholly plausible novel.

Genres: Science Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Mike Robbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapman Pincher was famous in the 1960s and 1970s as a journalist (particularly on security matters), and had something of a right-wing reputation. He's only just (2014) left us, at the age of 100. He's known for his journalism and several of his books have had quite an impact on the security world. It's less well known that he wrote five or six novels; I don't think many people read them today. This piece of science fiction from the mid-'sixties is pretty much forgotten now, and appears to be out of print.

That's a pity, because it's a splendid piece of hokum written in a way that makes it oddly believable. A British scientist discovers the secret of eternal youth and markets it as Juvenex. What happens next can be for the reader to discover, but it's a rattling good read. And there's a good clue in the title, which is a quote from T.S. Eliot's The Hollow Men ("This is the way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper").

The book was written, one assumes, mainly as an entertainment, but it is a highly intelligent one, with an unstated message about the law of unintended consequences. Moreover Pincher had the wit to set a story of the fantastic in an entirely familiar world, so that we suspend disbelief very easily - a trick used to equal effect in a much more famous work of science fiction, Orwell's 1984. If you find this in your local Oxfam shop for a quid, grab it quick.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book club first edition at a resale shop in Chicago, not knowing it's the author's only science fiction novel. Pincher's reputation is primarily associated with rather right wing fiction and non-fiction books about spies and spying. In this novel about the socio-political ramifications of the invention of an anti-aging drug the global Cold War aspect of things is emphasized.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent!