Mindkiller

Lifehouse Trilogy #1

by Spider Robinson

Wireheads, addicted to an electric current fed into the pleasure centers of the brain, are the new junkies. Karen, a former wirehead who barely escaped death by pleasure, is determined to bring down those who sell the wireheading equipment, but she and her lover Joe instead turn up evidence of a shadowy global conspiracy-not to control the world, but to keep anyone from realizing that the masters of mind control have been controlling us all for some time now . . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Collections, Thriller

246 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author. He was born in the USA, but chose to live in Canada, and gained citizenship in his adopted country in 2002.

Robinson's writing career began in 1972 with a sale to Analog Science Fiction magazine of a story entitled, The Guy With The Eyes. His writing proved popular, and his first novel saw print in 1976, Telempath. Since then he has averaged a novel (or collection) a year. His most well known stories are the Callahan saloon series.

Reviews

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s very difficult to give this novel a star rating—some of it is very good, some of it is very predictable, some of it is not so good.

First the good: The plot is tight and interesting up until the last couple of chapters, where things get a bit loose and baggy, with a bunch of completely unbelievable coincidences. There are two plot lines that keep the reader’s brain actively trying to figure out how they relate to each other for the majority of the novel. Plus, I appreciated that substantial parts of it were set my home country of Canada.

The predictable: Well, of course there is a conspiracy to run the world.

The not-so-good: The characters are pretty cardboard—Robinson seems to think that giving them sexual partners and having them take various drugs contributes to character development. The women are particularly poorly written, depicted more as pseudo-men than as women. Men and women really do have differences in psychology (vive la difference!) and this book does not really acknowledge this situation.

I understand that this is the first in a trilogy, so the (for me) unsatisfactory ending is obviously not the last word, but I am completely unmotivated to seek out the second book. I just don’t care what happens to these people. The book also suffers from unintended problems of time—it is set in the 1990s, published in the early 1980s, and although Robinson got many things right, there are many details that are jarring to a modern audience. Not his fault, even Arthur C. Clarke’s masterful 2001 suffered from these (after all, we still don’t have a moon base and travel to Jupiter/Saturn is still only a dream in 2015).

Overall, I really wonder how this book was included in the NPR’s list of best science fiction and fantasy. It is very average—I wish that half stars were available, as I would give it the absolutely average rating of 2.5 stars. As it is, I will round down to two stars (okay), as it was good enough to finish but not good enough to continue the series.

This is book 175 in my science fiction & fantasy reading project.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mindkiller is the first book of a loose trilogy, followed by Time Pressure and Lifehouse. Published in 1982, it's an expansion of one of his best-known short stories, God Is An Iron, which appeared in Omni. It has two parallel story lines set five years apart, 1994 and 1999, and suffers a bit from the jarring jet-lag of most near-future science fiction after the named year has expired. One of the main characters is a computer genius burglar and the other is a middle-aged professor, and it's quite interesting how he deftly brings their stories together. There's quite a bit of sentimentality and emotion (and sex and drugs) as there is in almost of Robinson's work, which should be read in small doses. There's quite a bit of suspense and intrigue before the ending, which is a little bit of a let-down due to the overuse of the mad-villain soliloquy to explain too much. Still, it's a good read, very positive and thought provoking.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is deftly put together until just about the very end.

I found the two plot threads equally compelling, which is a tough trick to pull off. The characters are each highly damaged but interesting people, and I enjoyed watching their interactions with those around them. Norman is an alienated, depressed professor; Joe has...well, I don't want to spoil anything, so we'll say an unusual job and some even more unusual problems. Both have been withdrawing from the world, and each is pulled back in by a crusade. Norman wants to find his missing sister; Joe is a reluctant white knight protecting a woman on a mission to destroy the companies whose addictive wireheading nearly killed her. There are a couple of real surprises here, one of which I managed to guess and then the author succeeded in lulling me back into disbelief before plausibly revealing how he had accomplished the trick. It worked, startlingly well.

The problem is, when they finally do all track the villain down in his lair, we get one of the most egregious infodumps-via-villain-monologues I've seen outside of bad comic books. It's then interrupted by a badly foreshadowed deus ex machina. Which then redeems itself by turning into one of the better Mexican standoffs I've seen, including a foreshadowed non-deus ex machina that genuinely works. This all limps in to a conclusion that does work, but is somehow not quite as satisfying as I would have liked.

In retrospect, I should have expected this--there are a couple overly talky scenes early on, in which the characters inform each other via slightly stilted dialogue what the themes of the book will be. But the ideas were sufficiently interesting at the time that I was willing to grant some leeway I'm revoking in hindsight.

The book was written in 1982, relatively early in Robinson's career. There's a lot of potential here, and another two books in what appears to be a very loose and spaced out trilogy. I'm hoping that he grows out of some of these tendencies.

The writing date is also particularly amusing at this point, in ways that aren't at all fair. The book is set between 2006 and 2011, and like most science fiction written about the near-future, it's entertaining to see what holds up and what doesn't. On one hand, the existence of Google and cell phones actually does not harm the plot in the slightest--Robinson got lucky there. On the other, the description of someone as having hair the color of audiotape is strangely anachronistic, and the most impressive computer really imaginable has an entire whopping four terabytes. Which I guess is still impressive memory these days--I've only got about a terabyte and a half at home, and adding that much might cost me another couple hundred dollars. Oops. More problematic is the lack of social renaissance in the cities. But while this is entertaining to nitpick, it's not really kind. He did a pretty good job, all things considered.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Visión particular para su tiempo.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En 1994, en Halifax, Norman Kent intenta suicidarse por problemas sentimentales, aunque la intervención de un extraño le interrumpe. Cuando vuelve a su casa, descubre que su hermana Madeleine, que supuestamente vivía en Europa y a la que hace mucho que ni ve ni tiene contacto con ella, le espera. En 1999, Joe entra a robar en un apartamento pero lo que logra es salvar a una mujer que está usando un estimulador cerebral manipulado de forma ilegal. Primer volumen de la trilogía Lifehouse.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[LaDonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fascinating book with lots of twists and turns that makes you angry, breaks your heart, then broadens your mind.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the middle book of this trilogy, Time Pressure, without knowing that it was a trilogy. The three books were written many years apart, and the other two were okay, but I didn't like them as much as the middle one. This one was better than the third one, and as I read through it I realized that I had read it before, perhaps some time ago. When I started reading it I remembered this one scene that involves the selling of rare jazz records, and as I continued to read I realized that the scene was getting more and more likely to happen, and then it did happen. This book does one of the things that I kind of don't care for in writing, switching between different characters/times in each chapter and then gradually bringing them together. It's actually done brilliantly and with a sweet twist in this book, but I still don't love it, just because I like a linear narrative. I guess also I kind of knew how the whole thing turned out having read the next book, so the action adventure suspense part was not as exciting. There's a lot of squick in this book, and I'm not a big suspense person in general. But I like Spider Robinson's style, all the same.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early cyberpunkish novel that had a good concept, if nothing I hadn't heard before - people connecting wires into their heads for the latest fix, mind and memory manipulation, a dystopian future.

The story's divided up into two time periods, but the story of each mirrors each the other so perfectly that, by the time the big shocking reveal comes about, you already can guess what it's going to be. Still, it was a quick read, and well-written.

One thing I always like about Spider Robinson novels - he seems to really love the places that he writes about. Sure, some of the characters here have some unkind things to say about Halifax, but it's clear the author loves it, and that shines through the entire book.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mindkiller is one of Spider's strongest books, which is a difficult thing to determine, as all of Spider's books are written with the same level of competency and humanism. The quality of the writing whatever the book, is equal. What you are left to determine, weather you liked it or not is the story itself. In the case of the "Mindkiller" it is a fantastic and wonderful story. There are some vivid difficult parts to read, but they are so because of the authors skill in description of such sublimity. Still, it has a positive and optimistic spin.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always interesting to read a story that was written for the future, but happens to be the past for us. I enjoyed the creativity of the author, and the story at large.

[Jon]

Once again, as in Stardance, Robinson has returned to the scene of the crime and fleshed out a short story to create a full length novel. To be quite honest with you all, I don't think Robinson really has "the chops" to write a full length novel from scratch - each of his novels ends up being a loosely connected collection of episodic short stories, to some extent. Not that he's not enormously entertaining and talented at those, but the long form is not his strength.

There are two main threads to the story; two protagonists. The first, whom we met in the short story, Mindkiller, is Joe the burglar. Joe is pretty much the ghost in the machine. He has no past, no official existence, and no recollection of who he is or how he ended up in residence in a luxurious hidden bunker with state of the art computer systems, tailor made, it seems, for someone like him to fly under the radar, supporting himself by burgling the wealthy. Joe makes a decision to meddle in some one's life when he rescues Karen, a hooker, from slow suicide by "wireheading". Wireheads are folks who have had a device surgically implanted in their brains which directly stimulates the pleasure center. Such stimulus is highly addictive, and wireheads will go without eating, drinking, sleeping, or even moving as long as the current keeps flowing.

The other protagonist is Norman Kent, a mild-mannered, somewhat hapless professor of literature in Nova Scotia. His wife has left him for a young plumber, his career is stalled out, and we meet him when he is standing on a bridge, ready to kill himself with a plunge to the icy waters below. The incongruous desire to save his hat, when it is blown off his head, results in aborting his suicide, and he returns to his apartment to find his long-lost sister, Madeleine, awaiting him there after her long sojourn in Europe. There's some sorrow buried in Maddie's past, too, which she won't reveal, but she stays with Norman for a while, helping him get his head back together, until she is abducted without a trace while walking home from a party late at night. Norman's search for his sister is fruitless, and he eventually appears to give up hope of finding out what happens to her, and begins to get serious about his teaching career again.

The "link" between the two men appears to be two technologies that are also linked: the ability to directly stimulate the pleasure center of the brain, and the technology to allow memories to be deleted or edited from the brain, which turn out, through the course of both men's investigations, to be owned and controlled by a single entity, whom Robinson calls, later in the book, The Mindkiller. Both men indulge in quixotic quests to surprise and neutralize the villain, and the results provide some twisty plot fun in this novel.

In the end, however, it boils down to Robinson's favorite idea; that if only mankind could get into each other's head in some way - usually telepathically, but in this case by recording one person's memories and imprinting them upon others, war, poverty, hunger and all evil will disappear from the world. A good example would be to imprint the memories of a modern farmer, with everything he knows about proper planting, fertilization and irrigation techniques, into the mind of a peasant farmer in the third world, or if a KKK member could experience exactly what it's like to be a persecuted minority.

Great concept, and obviously the technology is too dangerous to turn over to any particular country or government, lest it be abused, hence the conspiracy to keep the knowledge tightly held until it is fully developed and can be revealed to the entire world, free to all. I still see some logistical problems, but perhaps it could do some good - minor shades of this in real world things like the OLPC project, and efforts to bring "micro" water treatment facilities to third world countries, and with vertical farming, etc.

One thing I found amusing was a paragraph in the last chapter:

"...the man who pulls the President's strings, dear. For decades now, it has been impossible for a man suited to that power to be elected. Stevenson was the last to try. The rest of them accepted the inevitable and worked through electable figureheads. There hasn't been a president since Johnson who wasn't a ventriloquist's dummy. Some of them never knew it. The present incumbent, as a matter of fact, has no idea that he is owned and operated by a mathematician from Butler, Missouri."

There's just so much that's fun in that bit. The rest of the book is pretty fun, too.

[blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit of a reach to get this to four stars, but if you're a Robinson fan, you'll find it four stars easily enough. There are two stories told in parallel, five years apart, meeting up at the end, taking place in the far-flung worlds of 1994 and 1999, the first concerning an English professor whose life has gone to hell, only to have it further thrown into disarray by the sudden appearance—and then disappearance—of an older sister.

Robinson is hailed (in various places, not the least being the back cover of this paperback) as the second coming of Heinlein and that's probably right. He can plot a story well enough and he can describe action well enough.

But also, all of the characters think exactly like the author. And speak like the author. And are given to explaining things that are of dubious provenance. And who regard sex as a commodity. That sex and pleasure are central to the story's plot actually doesn't make it any less creepy to me, but I guess it's not entirely gratuitous.

I got around all this—I mean, this is Robinson's (and Heinlein's!) style so I can't really fault it for being what it of course would be.

Where it falls apart for me is that starting on about page 200, in the climactic 45 pages—the final 20% of the book is basically exposition. It's just a giant dump explaining everything and revealing a very Heinlein-ian "superior people using superior technology to save the world".

And when I say "superior technology" I mean something that is a preposterously awful formulation of brains, minds, memory and so on, but very probably state of the art for 1982, or at least reasonable for 1982.

Again, can't really fault SF for being of its time. If I'm sounding a little negative, that's probably not entirely warranted. My expectations were probably a little too high, and it's mostly a fine, breezy read. I'll read the sequels.

[Jim Mann · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review contains some spoilers.

Mindkiller consists of two story threads that seem unconnected at first, but it soon becomes apparent that they are connected, and in the end they come together. In 2006, a man's sister suddenly returns t him. They are happy together, but one night she disappears and he decides he must find her. In 2011, a man discovers a woman in the act of committing suicide by pleasure -- a wire connected to the pleasure centers of her brain. He saves her, and decides he now must help her to track down who is pushing wire-heading and stop them.

Much of the novel is a somewhat entertaining though overwritten thriller. But in the last thirty pages, when the two threads come firmly together, it turns into a mediocre imitation of late Heinlein, complete with pontificating expert who understand everything that's needed for the human race, a character who is suddenly super competent under pressure, a military type who shows up in time and talks just like a Heinlein character, a woman who uses endearments like women in Heinlein do (calling a woman she's just met "hon" for example), and so on.

All of this makes me not care enough to read the sequel.

[Chris Tower · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a weirdly compelling book. I found it because the second chapter formed the basis of one of my favorite Robinson stories (and SF stories in general) "God is an Iron" from Omni Magazine in 1979. The novel has an unusual leisurely structure, which still holds interest. It does not amp action and provide major cliff hangers, but it unspools just enough plot points in a not so hyped and slower unfurl infused with enough intriguing character stuff and world building that I am invested enough in the initial mysteries and curious how Robinson plans to resolve the story. And that resolution. It's much like a lot of 1960s-1970s SF. It sets expectations and then subverts those and veers off in an unexpected direction. This is a strong 8.7 out of town, which I guess is more four stars than five. I really liked it, and I may move on to another Robinson novel I have never read right away, especially since these are not available via audio and so I must read them the old fashioned way.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm. A 3.5 rounded to 4, because of a bit too much preachiness.
In 1994, Norman Kent is about to jump off a bridge when I guy yells at him to hold on. That leads to a complex tale that jumps back and forth from 1994 to 1999, and includes a missing sister, an ex-wife, another person attempting suicide, jazz music, and folks trying to overtake the world.
I love the fact that the main character hums “ Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” by Tom Lehrer,

[Head · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just FYI - this had some graphic sex scenes if you're not into that. I felt they were completely unnecessary at that level of description. I had trouble believing the main characters' actions throughout the book, and the ending felt rushed. It was completely unbelievable at that point. Normally, I can just go with it, but why bother. Meh.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 en 2008.

Única novela que he leído de este señor y entretenida, sin más. La colección de la editorial Acervo se vió mucho librerías de restos de ediciones y allí pillé muchos, en esa época de libro físico en papel.

De este poco me acuerdo, la verdad. Que se dejaba leer y que el autor tiene todos los premios por Stardance allá por el 78.

[Deedee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3.5 stars. I rounded up because it kept my interest throughout. I plan to read the sequel *one of these days*.

Did NOT pass the Bechdel test.
Bechdel Test: It asks whether a work features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. The requirement that the two women must be named is sometimes added.

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very confusing. Amazing. Horrible. And I really don't get the ending. Must be best book ever then!
Only one part was obvious but mostly works.
For the time of publication it must have been very edgy.

[Wesley Slappey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ending is a bit too optimistic/ideal, but not as bad as some were implying. I was genuinely held captive by the book and enjoyed the read. Would recommend if you are into SF from the period, but not the best there is.

[Jan Morrison]

This was a reread and just as satisfying twenty or so years apart. Robinson's writing has the same rhythm and feeling tone as my old favorite John D. McDonald in his Travis McGee series. Lots of fabulous music and coffee (Blue Mountain) and sex and drugs and save the world!

[James]

From the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Time Pressure comes a pulse-pounding tale of action and suspense as two men and a woman search for--and find--the ultimate frontier of experience. The new Robert Heinlein . . .--New York Times.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awkward, self conscious writing. Was way better the first time I read it and I needn't have shelved it for a second reading 20 years later.

[Mari Eldridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mindkiller" and "Time Pressure" together make up the best story Spider has written, and one of the best I've ever read.

[Scott Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trash.

[Bharat Bheesetti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun afternoon romp

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Jade Whitlock · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really fun, albeit corny story until the end when it becomes a huge piece of shit lol

[Daniel Paniagua Diez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante y entretenida, es más una novela policiaca que de ciencia ficción.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the thrillers of Spider Robinson. But I also love D&D, noise music and rare pre-WWII cars which gives me a sixth sense, the geek sense. When you've tried to share your latest obsession with a non-geek and you get a blank stare or even outright hostility that sense becomes almost a survival instinct.
I could recommend Mindkiller because of a brilliant story, interesting characters or a satisfying ending. I could recommended it because like the best sci-fi it raises issues of the future intersection of technology and morality, but my sixth sense tells me to slow down and warn the potential reader.
So, here it goes: Mindkiller, like all of Spider Robinson’s books, has a geek scent about it. Not pervasive funk, but a scent. I think Mr. Robinson, like me, is in to some pretty obscure areas of human endeavor, rare jazz, specialized fields of science and math and all kinds of more trivial areas of art, history and experence. Plus, he has an imagination that can add these elements together in to protagonists and antagonists that all collect obscure jazz records by artists that you’ve never heard of in a way that to his fellow geeks seems delightful. , I can see myself thinking the next time I read one of his novels, ‘Wow! All these international terrorists and CIA agents play Runequest in their spare time and are involved in this crime!’
To me this book deserves four stars because it’s entertaining, expands my mind, has me on the edge of my seat for the last hundred pages and I learn about musicians and their rarest recordings I’ve never heard of. But, I must warn you in good conscience, if you’re easily geeked subtract one star.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1982 novel is an expansion of Spider Robinson's 1978 short story "God Is An Iron". Eventually, it became the first in the Lifehouse Trilogy, the others entitled Time Pressure (1987) and Lifehouse (1997).

This novel was like a return to the sixties for me. (I was a child then, mostly I read about the sixties during the seventies). I'm sure it seemed trendy when it was new, but the language, technology, and sexual mores are becoming almost unrecognizable. In addition, the brain science in which Robinson speculated is quite out of date (I am a biomedical engineer working in the field of magnetic resonance imaging, which is not even mentioned). Seriously, this novel could use an update.

That said, the narrative alternates between two storylines, one set in a "future" 1994 and written in 3rd person, and the other set in a "future" 1999 and written in 1st person, which is an interesting combination. Besides the now-quaint technological speculations, it is actually quite far into the book before the primary speculative concept is introduced. Since the explanation for events is a big part of the plot's tension, I will not comment further on that. I found the story entertaining, but not outstanding.