Death Arms

Doctor Adder #3

by K.W. Jeter

R.D. Legger arrives in a future Los Angeles devastated by the Fear and finds himself at the mercy of a bizzare group of outcasts who possess psionic powers

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He is also credited with the coining of the term "Steampunk." K. W. has written novels set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universe, and has written three (to date) sequels to Blade Runner.

Series:
* Doctor Adder

Series contributed to:
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Alien Nation
* Blade Runner
* Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars
* The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror
* The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

The 'slow bullet' is a projectile which, once fired at you, will advance at a leisurely pace towards you - forever. It can bore through anything, eventually. And when it gets closer, it starts explaining that this is all entirely legal and your civil rights are not being infringed. On one level this is a piece of satirical tech which seems even more blackly plausible now than it did in 1978, when this was finished, or 1987, when it was first published; on another, it epitomises the ineluctable end that's coming for each of us one day, however slowly. I first encountered the slow bullet in Dave Langford's 'Critical Mass' review of Death Arms many years ago, and it had haunted me at odd moments ever since; when I was reminded of it by the recent collection of Langford's columns, this was one of the books that went straight on my list.

I've only read one Jeter before - again, decades ago - and I remember precious little about it, except that for all Morlock Night may have been one of steampunk's progenitors, we shouldn't hold that against Jeter. I have a sense that it was quite brutal, but perhaps not on the same level as Death Arms, which in its early stages seems positively determined to revolt; I've never known a protagonist who throws up quite so often as RD Legger, and given what he encounters, I don't blame him. It's a shame, because it risks drowning out the genuinely chilling bits - the vision of a future which has cut out the middleman of capitalism, where the city survives by directly draining the life-energy of the suburbanites who serve it* and where big business is planning to get the last pieces of grit out of the Spectacle's cogs by assassinating humanity's free will. The ensuing post-apocalyptic noir feels like it should be either longer or shorter than these 180 pages, and even if the on-rails nature of the story is key to the theme, it still wears thin in places. But elsewhere Death Arms manages a heady sense of wheels within wheels, conspiracies and counterplots, which almost recalls Lot 49.

*An afterword offers a very interesting - if necessarily outdated and partial - take on the relationship between city and suburb, suggesting it's a form of colonialism - but with the refinement that most of the personnel do duty in both roles, as urban coloniser by day and suburbanite paying tribute in the evenings and weekends. This seems like something a continental theorist should have hit on first, but it was new to me. From here Jeter segues into an explanation of the paranoiac gnosticism which links this book to two other of his novels, and which offers further hints at why Philip K Dick was such a fan.

[Sergej B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antroji mano skaityta K. W. Jeter'io knyga ir trečioji neoficialios Dr. Adder'io trilogijos dalis (antrosios, deja, neradau ☹️). Kaip ir pirmojo romano, šio leidimo istorija taip pat užsitęsė - jis buvo pradėtas rašyti 1972-aisiais, baigtas - 1978-aisiais, o išleistas tik 1987-aisiais. Tokia ilga "kelionė" be abejo atsiliepė ir pačios istorijos tęstinumui - daugelyje momentų siužetas arba užsitęsęs, arba nelogiškai skubus, dėl ko susigaudyti personažuose ir pačioje fabuloje būna sunku (kaip ir Dr. Adder'io atveju suprasti, kas yra kas ir kas vyksta, pradėjau vėlgi tik įpusėjęs knygą).
Tačiau įdomių idėjų irgi netrūksta. Ko verta "lėtoji kulka", persekiojanti savo taikinį po visą planetą, paslaptingas Baimės priepuolis, ištuštinęs visą JAV vakarų pakrantę, psichokinetinių galių turintys žmonės. Kita vertus, šie privalumai, mano nuomone, nesulaukė pakankamai dėmesio ir autorius daugiau skyrė pačiai istorijai, kas išėjo ir į naudą, ir į žalą. Siužetas gavosi glaustas, netgi koncentruotas, be nereikalingų dramų ir tuščiažodžiavimų, truputį realistiškesnis nei pirmtako, bet truputį tuštokas. Dėl to ciniškesnis, "juodesnis" nei Dr. Adder'io finalas nepadarė tokio įspūdžio, kokį turėtų.

[James Kark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a good Sci Fi read, and it was suggested I read this. It was suggested by an online video by "The Outlaw Bookseller". I suggest If you want a solid read with a Southern California vibe read this. It is also deep in many ways. I found the ending profound, but the built up was executed very well. This is in terms of writing command by the author. It was a good story. I don't want to really summarize it. That can be done on Goodreads.com.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third volume in Jeter's proto-cyberpunk trilogy. It's not bad, but the story felt underdeveloped to me, as if it was a plot outline that still needed filling in. It may have been the author's intention to keep the story barreling along and not weigh it down with too much complexity and exposition, but I found it too superficial. I never really felt the stakes, nor did I feel much interest in the characters. While the writing here is perhaps not quite up to the task, I am startled when I realize Jeter started this trilogy in the early 1970's. He started writing the type of stories, settings and characters that William Gibson would later raise to a high art more than ten years before Gibson's Neuromancer came out-- but just couldn't get his work published. Jeter's themes really were ahead of their time.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in March 2001.

In many ways, Death Arms is very similar to Jeter's first novel, Dr. Adder. In both novels, an outsider from society with a remarkable father (in this case, an assassin) travels to the ruins of a wrecked Los Angeles where, among the bizarre people that he meets, he is able to come to some sort of understanding of who he is and what legacy his father has left him.

Death Arms is distinctly less successful, and less interesting to read (though in part re-reading it soon after Dr Adder is producing this effect). It is far less violent, but has a creepy element not present in the earlier novel: the best writing in it is the description of the reanimation of the thousands of dead insects around a building by psychic Rachel. This sort of thing again makes it not for the squeamish.

[Amadeus · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main problem with this book is the way the author writes his material. The text is overly wordy, filled with run-on sentences and confusing transitions, and, if you are reading the physical edition, cramped into the pages in a print that should be criminal. While the story is interesting, the protagonist is mostly despondent, angsty, and devoid of all interesting character traits he might've had. The overall tone is one of exhausting nihilism, one that wants to say something important but never quite finds the way to. On the bright side, the setting is very compelling, and the book is at its best when it explores the interesting, although contrivance-filled world in which it takes place.

[Booketeer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not pleasant content at all. Jeter usually features anti-heroes. But the ending... The last page is why I gave it four stars. I won't spoil it for you, but it re-interprets the title.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

a truly wonderful warped look at near future life