Night Walk

by Bob Shaw

For 'refusing to co-operate' the Emm Luther Special Police took out Earth agent Sam Tallon's eyes and imprisoned him on a dark and eerie swamp from which nobody ever escaped.

But then Tallon invented a way of seeing - ludicrous, agonizing, yet still a way to make escape possible. He 'saw' through the eyes of a bird. A dog, a woman guard and, later, even saw himself through the eyes of his enraged Lutheran pursuers. Madness and death were his constant companions as he schemed and fought and struggled for his life. Any other man would have gladly given up, but then, Sam Tallon had no choice, for he was the unfortunate possessor of the single most important secret in the universe - a secret which had to be returned to Earth, somehow.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

188 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published May 1, 1987

About the author

Bob Shaw was born in Northern Ireland. After working in structural engineering, industrial public relations, and journalism he became a full time science fiction writer in 1975.

Shaw was noted for his originality and wit. He was two-time recipient (in 1979 and 1980) of the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. His short story Light of Other Days was a Hugo Award nominee in 1967, as was his novel The Ragged Astronauts in 1987.

Reviews

[Ubik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ambitious and entertaining, but I will admit, actually quite silly and unbelievable in a lot of parts. There are also things that just werent explained.

After being blinded by an enemy interstellar agent, Sam Tallon (our hero) goes to a prison on the planet Emm Luther where he invents, with the help of another blind prisoner, a goggle set that will allow a blind person to "see" through another being's eyes (read: human, bird, dog, rat, anything with a set of working eyes). The concept is extremely neato, but doesnt make any scientific sense whatsoever. What you do get is a lot of amusing scenarios involving the split screen vision of a pigeon (extreme close-up of his own ear and whatever else the pigeon is looking at with the other eye), scenes where Sam has to hold a dog up to his face in order to get a line of sight on something, and seeing his enemy looking through the line of sight on a gun aimed at himself.

It was a good read, a good romp, but dont expect to be enlightened by it. Nevertheless, I will be giving Bob Shaw at least one more shot to get an overall idea of his capabilities

[Eggp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blind guy regains sight
gets his friends and lovers killed
remains a jackass.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my third reading of this book and I was shocked by just how much I had no recollection of. This did give me the wonderous benefit of reading this again anew (though I did remember the big twists and turns). This may have been based on another planet, but this greatly resonates with the cold war that was ticking away in the background when this was written. With not a huge number of characters, Sam Tallon manages to carry the story well enough by himself. There is an impactful contrast between the usually gentle Sam and the occasional and extreme bouts of violence that befalls him and those around him. In one scene he is actually captured and raped by the owner of a tea shop.
In the end, this is a much deeper and more involved book than I expected. Some nicely thought out concepts and a main character that can be rooted for throughout his plight. The end reveal is one of the best I have read.

[Joel J. Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably closer to 3.5 stars.

An intergalactic spy has the coordinates to one of only 12 known habitable worlds in the universe. He’s caught, blinded, then sent to a prison. With ingenuity and a bit of luck, he escapes using a device that allows him to see what others see, be that birds, dogs, or humans. In the end, his journey to freedom may just stop an intergalactic war.

This story was my first Bob Shaw novel I’ve ever read. His writing is direct and straightforward, making this an easy read. I would’ve liked there to be a little bit more. . .oomph though.

Our main character, Sam Tallon, can be kind of bland in a Gary Stu sorta way. Still, you find yourself rooting for him as he struggles with his escape back to Earth while being blind.

There were a few parts where I felt the plot got too Hollywood—where the story felt a little too unbelievable. But the ending was satisfying, if a bit too much of a happy-go-lucky ending.

Still, not too bad for my first foray into it!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

'To see ourselves as others see us' was never interpreted more literally, or with greater narrative effect. This is a science fiction thriller that shows Bob Shaw at his ingenious best - deft characterisation, strong plot, intriguing ideas, and that much-prized moment of cosmic revelation at the end. The idea of a blind man escaping from a very secure penal colony is so improbable that one suspects Shaw set himself a kind of ultimate challenge: 'Can I make this credible?' He did.

[Bria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad for a random old pulp scifi book! A very interesting premise of being able to use the eyes of anything around you. Plausible, given the plasticity of the brain, but implausible given how long it would take to adapt, different visual acuities etc of different animals, the role of proprioception and visual cues in movement, etc - but still very fun to think about, especially since I only *just* finished a coursera course on the brain and how it determines where it is in space.

[Sean Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for being an old favourite that stood the test of time. It's dated, but still delightful. All the more wonderful for reading it in an old Gollancz yellow jacket edition given to me by a friend. (Thanks, Jeff!)

[Will Sargent · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most enjoyable reads I've had since Wreath of Stars, also by Bob Shaw.
Shaw wrote easy to read, 200-page adventure yarns, packed with exotic locations and truly imaginative ideas, always with believable hard science.

Here he uses a novel optics idea to fuel a convict-on-the-run yarn to match Bester's Stars my Destination, Dick's Paycheck, Silverberg's Hawksbill Station and MJ Harrison's Centauri Device.

Our secret agent is blind, but wearing special goggles he can tap into nearby human and animal viewpoints for navigation, borrowing their eyes to look back at his movements.

Shaw enjoys using optics in his stories. Wreath of Stars and Other Days Other Eyes employ similarly imaginative visual science ideas. I must say his books are a breath of fresh air after struggling through a pile of Masterworks classics that can be hit and miss.

I would have made the animal viewpoints more interesting - using unusual colours, monochrome, pixellation and weird aspect ratios like that of a fly or spider. He missed a trick there, but in his defence he packs so much story into fewer than 200 pages, there probably wasn't room.

With Shaw I find I want to slow down to savour every location and character before it's over. Unlike, say, M John Harrison, where you are FORCED to slow down due to the painfully economical and imaginative phrasing (Harrison is fantastic in his own way, obv).

There's some shocking moments of violence and the usual 60s/70s sexism, but it's such a fab read it's worth squinting with one eye shut past the infrequent clumsiness to get to yet more of the good stuff.

Looking forward to other short blasts from Shaw: Two timers, Vertigo, Other Days, Palace, Medusa, Ground Zero and his short story collections. I'm actually smiling as I look at these unread books in my bookshelf.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 2.5

Read this book for the O.W.L.s Magical Readathon in the prompt Arithmancy

I liked the premise of the book, however the final 1/3 and especially the end was rushed and not very credible in the story context.

[Brooklyn Attic Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most vintage science fiction, a bit outdated and old mentality.

Aside from that, if you can look past the macho BS, it's a fun adventure story.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otro gran tomo de la colección Hyspamérica/Orbis.

[Gingaeru · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, goodreads, this review is for the science fiction novel, "Night Walk" by Bob Shaw. NOT some random Henry Gamadge mystery. Get it together!

I loved the premise of a blind man who's able to see himself in the third person via the eyes of surrounding people and animals, so I risked reading yet another throwaway science fiction novel. Disappointed with the first few chapters, I put the book down for several days. But I returned to some decent concepts and enjoyable travel segments in the middle portion. From a certain point during his prison escape to the moment Tallon sits down in that unfortunate restaurant, I vividly experienced his journey through the bird's-eye view of a seagull, his fellow train passengers, pedestrians, and so on. After his unpleasant two-week captivity at the mercy of that freaky cat lady, the travel graciously resumed, and I was keen on his chat with the homeless fellows and his solo attack on the estate of the man who wore his confiscated original eyeset (just as the battery on his current set was about to deplete). Good stuff.

Those scenes convince me of this author's potential, but the rest isn't too good, and during the ending, things escalate to the level of silliness. As for the sudden romance, it's actually one of the more believable ones I've seen. It's a little ridiculous how people just blindly resign themselves to traveling through 80,000 portals to get from point A to point B. I was confused by certain details (or lack thereof) in the old blind doctor's elaborate prison break scheme. Other than that, I was put off by the sadistic brutality sprinkled throughout. I think I'll keep it on my shelf for its enjoyable parts, despite their being sandwiched between the stale, dry bread that is the rest. Maybe I'll sample some more Bob Shaw (his books sure had some interesting cover art).

"Factorization itself is a good idea, but they apply it backward... Take somebody like a surgeon. That man wants to be a surgeon—he wouldn't do any other job in the world—and yet he gets paid ten or twenty times as much as some poor guy who is doing work he hates... [speaking of Earth's current leader, Caldwell Dubois:] Well, he likes being head man, so why should he get so much more money than somebody who has to mind a machine he hates the sight of? No, brother, there should be a kind of psychological checkup every year on everybody who's working. When it shows that somebody is starting to like his job, his pay should be cut, and that would provide extra money for another guy who hates his work a bit more than he did a year before." - Ike
...

Error:
"Tallon smirked desperately, wondering if real cat lovers were supposed to be able to tell toms from tabbies at a glance." (p. 71)
-
For some reason, the author seems to have mistaken "tabby" as a word for female cats; tabbies are simply cats (of either gender) with dark stripes.
...

Typos include (but are not limited to):
"Nobody even hinted at the clause—he would have quite on the spot if they had..." (p. 8)
-
"He walked up sloping streets toward the center of city still enjoying the sense of freedom." (p. 70)
-
"One her way back from the cash desk the brunette stopped at his table." (p. 71)
-
"... he was able to pick up the first newcasts." (p. 78)
-
"Tallon had never like them." (also p. 78)
-
"Won't look a bit suspicious?" (p. 113)
-
"The view of his face was lost as Helen eyes turned from him..." (p. 131)
-
"The adress Helen had given Cherkassky..." (also p. 131)
...

Uses of "loom" (verb): 6
Uses of "here and there": 2
Uses of "gleam": at least 7
Use of "like so many": 1
...

6/10

"'Take it easy,' Winfield warned uneasily."

[Massimo Marino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Born in Belfast in 1931, graduated in mechanical engineering, Robert Shaw began writing fiction in 1954, but in 1975 he left his work as a designer aircraft to become a full-time writer.
Author of scientifically accurate novels, Shaw is one of the most representative of the Anglo-Saxon science fiction, but also one of the most underrated.
Bob Shaw has left us in 1996.

In this novel, the slow colonization of space by mankind, in a not too distant future, is under way. Starships can cross great distances through the portals, singularity points in space where the normal rules of space-time are not longer valid, precursors of the Einstein-Rosen Bridges.

The problem with the portals is that there is no way to know what your destination will be unless you try them, in order to mark safe routes it is necessary to send through the portals million probes, few of which will ever return.
The routes plotted in this way are terribly winding, for example, between the Earth and the planet M Luther there are eighty-thousand portals, each of which must be crossed in a certain way to reach final destination.
The habitable planets being discovered are very few (a fewer number than the ones we know of today), and when the news spread that the ruling theocracy on M Luther has discovered a planet similar to the Earth the government sets its network of spies to work.
Sam Tallon, one of the agents, manages to get hold of the precious coordinates, but is captured by the dreaded secret police of M Luther and, during an escape attempt, loses both eyes.
Completely blind and closed in a prison where escape is impossible, Tallon refuses to give up, and begins to develop a plan to return to Earth with his precious information.
On his way, he will find all sorts of dangers, Cherkassky to name one, the fierce leader of the secret police, and eighty-thousand doors space to go through, but also an unexpected help.

The Irish author is known for his great trilogies and the stories based on the slowglass technology. He works based on great ideas, but Night Walk is not remembered as one of the best novels, but it was a good enough read that perhaps its marks should have been higher than they’ve been.
Indeed, in the history of Sam Tallon, there are all the elements that characterize Bob Shaw, a solid plot, twists and tension, believable characters, and a protagonist with physical problems, but able to accept them and overcome his condition.
The idea of the portals, that justifies the initial situation, although far from fantastic Dyson spheres or weird wooden spaceships in the Orbitsville and Pterpha cycles, is good given it was written in 1967, although it must be said that for Shaw technology and technological innovations and their impacts and changes in society have always been a forte.

Ultimately, Night Walk is a good novel, that will please its readers.

[Big Enk · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

Bob Shaw must have been an optics aficionado or something - a consistent nucleation point for his works. Night Walk, Shaw's first novel, is kind of a spy thriller, hard SF mashup. Sam Tallon is a spy in the employ of the empire that controls Earth, who find himself in sole possession of the galactic coordinates to a new habitable world, a rarity with how random long distant space travel is. The problem is that Tallon has stolen the coordinates from a rival start-up empire, and buddy it's a long way back to Earth. Tallon believes that he has failed his mission once he's capture by the enemy, permanently blinded, and stuffed into a prison a thousand miles from the nearest space port. It's only then that we are introduced to the science that will serve as his crutch to get him home; a pair of spectacles that allow him to see through the eyes of nearby sentient creatures, human or otherwise.

I wish that Shaw had done a more thorough job of exploring the possibilities of this technology though. Far too often, Tallon remarks that he just "forgot" that he could switch his vision from his trusty dog companion to his assailants, or a a creature with a unique vantage point on the action. There are numerous occasions like this where I found myself internally screaming at Tallon to do something inventive with the central technology, and most of the time Shaw refuses to provide him with the IQ to do so. Right at the end Tallon also suggests that with the vision might come some amount of emotion or internal perspective. Okay, dang, that's cool, wish we could've explored that more too. None of this is helped by the fact that Tallon is typically insufferable, and not in way that's positive for the narrative or his character. He's catty and sarcastic from beginning to end.

Shaw has a very specific and pleasing way of blending semi-hard science with the narrative of his novels. He never lingers too long on exposition (à la Neal Stephenson) but always wants the reader to have a least a little bit of an idea as to how his ideas could work. It's a fine line and Shaw shows a habit of toeing it masterfully. He's creative with not just his science, but with his world building too - the little bit of it here was enjoyable. I love the struggle through the jungle surrounding the prison, I though the narrative was clear and concise, and I think that when he's really cooking Shaw can write characters that are a cut above his contemporaries.

Though I think in many ways Night Walk has a similar amount of problems as A Wreath of Stars, I think I prefer this work instinctively. My gut tells me there's more here to like, even if it doesn't live up to the potential that I see in it.

[Henry Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name of Belfast-born Bob Shaw (1931-1996) is little known outside SF circles. This is a shame, but also ensures that each story or novel one uncovers will be an unexplored delight. I picked up this one as a paperback in a secondhand store (the cover here is for the Kindle edition). He is best known, if known at all, for his haunting short story The Light Of Other Days. Perhaps because he suffered from poor eyesight, light and vision are recurring themes in his fiction, and this is brutally so in Nightwalk. Sam Tallon is a spy from Earth who has been sent to the remote planet of Emm Luther to discover the coordinates of a new planet that the Lutherians had come across. Searching for new planets is a risky business. Each new planet is valuable, and planets with established populations will go to war over each discovery. Tallon is caught by agents of the Lutherian secret service, who put out his eyes, and exile him to a version of Devil’s Island – a tropical prison camp separated from the mainland by a swamp full of dangers, natural and man-made – from which nobody has ever escaped. But he does. With the help of a fellow inmate and a complaisant prison doctor, Tallon invents a pair of spectacles that allows him to see through the eyes of nearby people, even animals — most notably his faithful seeing-eye dog Seymour (the pun is deliberate). With this McGuffin he manages to … hey, I’m telling you the plot. This cracking adventure story comes from the late 1960s, an era when SF novels were short and sharp, marked by economical writing and pacy plot. Ah, for the light of other days.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book, but not really a quick read. Tallon, an agent from Earth, is imprisoned by the government of a former colony planet. He has stolen the jump coordinates to a habitable world, and the two planets are about to go to war because of the mechanics of FTL travel make finding new worlds incredibly difficult.

During his capture, Tallon is blinded by a sadistic government enforcer. He is sent to a political prison that is considered escape-proof because of the natural barrier of a swamp teaming with dangerous life forms. Nevertheless, he manages to escape mainly because he has invented electronic eyes that allow him to borrow the eyes of nearby animals. He has several episodes on his escape trek, but eventually finds himself on his own in a starship that has randomly jumped through hyperspace. This circumstance should be equivalent to a life sentence because he has no way to control his hyperspace jumps. However, he realizes that his eyeset is conveying information about hyperspace. Incredibly, with the help of a rat, he manages to invent a means to navigate hyperspace.

Full of almost unbelievable coincidences, but Shaw still manages to pull it off because his ideas are first rate, and the book moves too fast to give you time to question the coincidences.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bob Shaw’s debut novel is a taut, efficient and highly readable SF thriller.

Set in a future where Earth’s empire is set in opposition to the world of Em Luther, where space travel is via thousands of portals into and out of the realm of null-space, Tallon goes undercover to get the location of a newly discovered world, but is captured, blinded in a bid to escape and ends up in the isolated Em Luther prison called The Pavilion.

Befriended by another blind inmate, they manage to construct a device that allows them to “see” through another’s eyes, be they human or animal. In this they are facilitated by a government official called Helen Juste, who has her own reasons for wanting them to complete the project. Tallon escapes eventually and begins a long, perilous journey back to the capital in order to get the information sealed off in his brain to Earth.

Yes, it’s episodic but Tallon’s seeing device is a novel idea, the tensions between the worlds hover nicely in the background and Shaw even manages to shoehorn in a romance! He keeps this short novel moving along at a pace, the denouement is satisfying, the prose highly readable.

Very well done indeed.

[Luca Dofus · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a poorly written book, this was a pleasure for the eyes and the mind. Very descriptive without it ever getting overwhelming, and occasionally leaving it to the reader to fill in gaps. The events go quickly and I did late nights gripped to the pages. Emotions develop a bit too quickly, but albeit it's a small book. I really liked it.
Personally I don't read science fiction questioning the science of it all the time, I am certainly in no position to do that. So I try to just enjoy the ideas, regardless of how 'possible' it might be.
The book read fast, the events and descriptions captured my attention and I often (if not all the time) find myself right beside Tallon.
p.s.: I bought this is in a bookstore that was piles on piles of old used books. The yellowed crunchy pages and old book smell certainly took part in the atmosphere of it all!

[Christian Levine-Goco · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 Superb book and my first from Bob Shaw but will surely not be my last. In just 160 pages Shaw manages to take you on a journey of personal struggle, imminent intergalactic war, and technological achievement. This book is exciting and flows in a way that makes it extremely easy to read with simple prose that communicates complex ideas in a digestible format. The character of Sam Tallon is great and his journey feels fully realized with no fat added. A clean, crisp sci-fi book that gets right down to business from the beginning and doesn’t stray for the entirety of the book. Loved it and am excited be picking up another Bob Shaw soon!

[B Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramping up to a 52+ book 2026.

Tallon (which despite the description- I saw only as Nathan Fillion) becomes blinded during a police chase after he stole local government secrets. He is then escorted to The Pavilion, a prison reserved for high profile and/or dangerous prisoners. He meets a friend who is also blind, and they (along with some help) build devices which eventually scales to them being able to see through other living beings eyes (within a certain distance).

What follows is a surprising (to me) amount of sticky situations. I really had a great time with this, and the happy ending (discovers faster interplanetary travel, gets the girl) left me satisfied with the read.

[Charles Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a bit off the beaten track of classics for me, it looked set to be a rather average read with a little bit of weirdness thrown in. What really redeemed it was the complete change of scale at the end. I can't quite justify a higher star review as it was a long time coming but it really ticked the clever universe box which I am a sucker for. All the little details picked up through the book suddenly make sense. The plot had a slight tendency to jump around and the hero was a little too lucky in places but a solid read.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel built a world very well - and the characterisation of the main character was good. However, I felt that it suffered from the classic sci-fi problems of 2D secondary characters (their only motivations were to help or hinder the MC) and co-incidences (ie meeting people who can take him directly to where he needs to go / know the person he needs to see - on the scale of an entire city this is unlikely.)

[Nesellanum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this read! Political intrigue and espionage, incredibly inventive future-tech, a dedicated animal sidekick, galactic exploration, and a short but sweet love story, all contained in a succinctly written book with an intensely satisfying ending. Shaw displays an elevated skill in storytelling and imaginative ideas, very much looking forward to reading more of his work. Highly recommend picking this up.

[Francis Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this when I read it, and for years I've wanted to read it again. All I could remember was the idea of the blind man breaking out of prison with special glasses, and only managed to discover it again early this year. It certainly has faults, but I love the inventiveness and the vision. Definitely old-school sci-fi, but that's why it's great.

[Andrew Plowright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable overall, but not particularly memorable. Definitely explored some interesting concepts about space travel, and the resolution was pretty unexpected. I felt the characters, particularly the women, were very one-dimensional, and seem to just fall in love with the main character for no reason.

[Scott Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this five stars not because it’s the best book ever. Which it is not but sure is a lot of fun and super creative and the my book cover is cool.

The length of the book is not to long not to short. There’s no cursing of any kind, not perversion of any kind. Super creative and the guy gets the girl in the end and they live happily ever after. Hshahahah. It was great!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Initially interesting, got a bit weird in the middle, picked up again towards the end.

Not convinced that Tallon would adapt so quickly to being able to move etc using eyes from another person, animal etc i.e. another pov

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this years ago - now just adding it.

This is one of Shaw's lesser efforts, and while it works well as a man on the run story, the idea of using a cat (or any other animal) to see for you never quite gelled with me.

[TakoNeko · Rating 4 out of 5]

À découvrir, un bon classique de la S.F.