Psychedelic-40

by Louis Charbonneau

PSYCHEDELIC-40 was PSI-40, the drug that gave The Syndicate its power and the people their pleasure. The Syndicate was a group of Specials, ruthless men with super-intellects, who with PSI-40 could probe the minds of friend and foe alike - and even control lesser minds at will. The people lived for the joys of the vacation colonies where they played orgiastically with liquor, sex, and best of all, PSI-40, which brought them drugged dreams of impossible sensuality. Kemp Powell was a Special whose super-super-intellect didn't require PSI-40. Powell wouldn't join The Syndicate, so they marked him for death!

Genres: Science Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a 2.5 star rating, at best. I have to agree with another reviewer that this novel missed the boat on exploring what may result from a society that chooses to pacified by drugs instead of reality. What happens here is mostly a "secret agent" yarn with elements of 1940s crime novels thrown in. By that, I mean the sort of crime novels where the detective pursues one direction but is sidelined by another conspiracy along the way, so that ultimately both conspiracies join into a tidy ending where the villain pulling the strings is revealed to by someone the detective is supposed to have trusted.

In this case, the detective, Jon Rand is an agent for The Mental Freedom Syndicate, run by a board of "Specials" which are men with full ESP and mind-control powers. The Specials use agents known as "Sensitives" to do their dirty-work, which basically is maintaining their agenda of control by promoting the mental wonder-drug PSI-40, by any means legal and illegal.

There is plenty of action, and not much sociological depth here. It's more of a caper, complete with goons and a femme fatale of sorts, that would have been right at home in the pages of a pulp magazine. That's not a bad thing necessarily, it's just been done before.

[Thrift Store Book Miner · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Psychedelic-40” is a pulpy spy thriller with a third eye. The titular drug, commonly known as “Psi-40” is widely used in the society presented in the book. It has different effects on different people. For some, it puts them in a mildly psychedelic, euphoric state. Others have spiritual experiences. Then, there is another category, knows as “Sensitives”, with latent psychic abilities, who become even more psychic when they take the drug.

A secret government spy organization, known as the Syndicate, recruits people from the later category. Jon Rand, the main character in the book, is an agent within this organization. During a time when the Syndicate is going through an internal administrative shake-up, he is sent on a mission to Baja. He is tasked with using his spy skills, enhanced by his psychic abilities, to track down the leader of a revolutionary group called the Antis, whose mission is to work against the use of Psi-40 in society, and also against the Syndicate itself.

Rand’s mission brings him into a series of adventures and misadventures; like a psychedelic, second-rate version of James Bond. The pace of the story moves along rapidly as he gets himself stuck in one jam after another, from attempted assassinations, kidnappings, encounters with possible double agents, to failed attempts at infiltration. His psychedelically assisted psychic abilities play a key role in his ability to stay alive and in action.

Overall, this was an entertaining read with interesting concepts, except the characters were flat, and the movement of the plot was haphazard at times. A lot of it wasn’t tied together very well, and the dialogue seemed tacked together. The idea of a drug enhanced psychic spy force had a lot of potential, and the pacing moved along like a freight train with a conductor loaded on LSD, but as a whole, the book didn’t really deliver the dosage that it seemed to promise in it’s opening chapters.

This would be a good book to read on vacation, or before bed while mentally exhausted and in need of a vacation. It’s nothing mind-blowing, but still a decent ride. It is also likely to be of interest to those with an interest in real-life secret government psychic warfare programs like the remote-viewing program Operation Stargate, and also those interested in the conspiracy theories about the distribution of LSD being a part of a secret CIA program during the late 1960s.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second time reading Louis Charbonneau, after No Place on Earth, which was flawed but alright. Published in 1965 and set in 1993, this novel’s jacket blurb describes it as a “frighteningly prophetic novel of the USA under the rule of irresponsible, power-mad politicos”. Which, it turns out, is nowhere close to accurate. But it IS about a powerful (and legal) drug syndicate that traffics PSI-40, a drug that gives most people transcendental serenity, but for some people (namely, the “Specials” who run the Syndicate), it gives them superior psionic powers, including the ability to read and control minds.

Syndicate agent Jon Rand is a Sensitive – someone who gets limited (but not Special-grade) psionic powers from PSI-40 – who is sent on a mission to find and kill Kemp Johnson, an outlaw Special believed to be in Baja working with an anti-Syndicate group trying to stop distribution of PSI-40. Rand goes to Baja (which has been transformed into a tropical resort paradise by cheap salt-water conversion technology) and immediately someone tries to kill him. Is Johnson already onto him? Or is someone inside the Syndicate setting him up?

Plotwise, it almost reads like a James Bond novel, except there’s only one love interest, the mysterious Taina Erickson, who isn’t everything she seems, etc. I get the feeling Charbonneau was riffing off the panic over the growing popularity of LSD in American counterculture at the time, and imagining a future where LSD was used to control people and make America a nation of blissed-out dopers. Not exactly prophetic, but not a bad guess, considering this came out ten years before the CIA’s MKUltra programme became public knowledge. Like No Place on Earth, Charbonneau invests more effort in action than world-building to the novel’s detriment, but as pulp action yarns go, it’s pretty decent.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 3 out of 5]

As w/ most dystopic SF, mix a sensational technological development w/ social-control politics & predict what might happen - as a warning to the society in wch the development is taking place. In this case. perhaps CIA experiments w/ LSD for mind-control purposes (if the author was even aware of them in 1964 when this was probably written) w/ the usual intention of power conglomerates to CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL & out comes this possible (near) future (now the present or the past).

It wd be interesting to take all past prophesizing novels & combine their text w/ footage from the times they prophesize about for the sake of juxtaposition & framing. This 'futuristic' bk begins in 1976. A general public living for drugged vacations? That certainly wdn't be hard to find. It's the "super-intellects" of the ruling elites that I'd question here.

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rather unsatisfying novel of 'the not too distant American future' about a power struggle over the use and distribution of a particular drug, PSI-40, that enhances psychic ability in the user. The Mental Freedom Syndicate is a consortium of 'Specials' who are wealthy and powerful individuals who have highly enhanced their psychic powers, and are trying to control who has access to the drug PSI-40, and thus limiting who has the power to perceive information hidden from the normal senses. 'Sensitives' are people who have been monitored by the Syndicate because they have been tested and seem to have nascent psychic abilities, so their use of PSI-40 is carefully monitored. And these 'Sensitives' are pressured to join the Syndicate, and they help protect the MFS from the ANTI'S, who are a group that wants to end the control of PSI-40. The novel's protagonist is Jon Rand and he is a 'Sensitive' agent for the MFS who has a change of heart about the true aims of the Syndicate. The story-line is driven by a load of corny theatrics that seem like tedious Ian Fleming outtakes, but basically the novel is about Power and Domination.

The novel was written in 1965, and I don't think anyone realized what a tremendous influence recreational drugs would have on society, and this novel doesn't provide much insight as to what might be just around the corner. Almost any of Philip K. Dick's novels (VALIS, THE THREE STIGMATA OF PALMER ELDRITCH, A SCANNER DARKLY, etc) leave PSYCHEDELIC-40 in the literary dust, and my favorite novel about future drugs that impact psychic ability is most definitely John Brunner's, THE STONE THAT NEVER CAME DOWN. PSYCHEDELIC-40 can only be considered one of the 'also rans'.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m at the halfway point in this book and I wanted to note how much the story dovetails with Frank Herbert’s Dune. In this book, there is a “miracle” drug called PSI-40 whereas Dune has the amazing stuff called “spice.” Both drugs can give select people Yeti mind trick powers. Both drugs are controlled by a syndicate. Both books were published the same year, 1965. So there. Go figure it out.

Now I will return to reading the rest of the book.

Well, I finished the book. I can’t count the number of times “our hero” was knocked unconscious! It sort of reminds me of a Raymond Chandler story. He wrote about detectives who got beat up a lot.

[Fastidiously Facetious · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the fourth book I have read by this author and oddly the hardest to get through. His other books, even messy ones (No Place On Earth), kept my interest until the end. But I had to grind to finish this book. Most of the character motivations don’t make sense, and he toys with different genres, but never really commits. It could’ve been a really interesting commentary on a drugged society, but he doesn’t spend much much time on that. It’s mostly a hard boiled detective story, but doesn’t fully commit to that and so lacks the appeal of those kind of stories. The entire setup is a bait and switch where you start with someone who you think is the main character, but you don’t even encounter him again until the very end.

[Jon Heatherly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obscure 60s scifi that I love.

[Stefano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nulla di eccezionale, ma ben scritto e ben strutturato. L'ho trovato sicuramente più completo e interessante degli altri romanzi dello stesso autore. Il finale è intelligente, chiude tutte le trame aperte e spiega in modo soddisfacente i diversi indizi (a mio parere ben nascosti nella lettura).

Un modo divertente di leggere un giallo ad ambientazione fantascientifica. Degna di nota anche la visione originale della società sullo sfondo: un mondo dove l'assunzione della droga è praticamente obbligatoria, e sono coloro che la rifiutano, i cosiddetti Anti, ad essere considerati dei reietti, strani e pericolosi. Una provocazione interessante su cosa significhi davvero essere accettati dalla società, e sulla differenza tra morale assoluta e morale relativa.