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The Missing Man
MacLean was awarded the Nebula Award for a short story with the same name, first published in Analog Science Fiction, March 1971. This novel is an expanded version of that short story.
From the DJ end-flaps: George Sanford has a gift for guessing right and very little else going for him. When Ahmed and his other friends in his gang grew up, they all advanced in school and got jobs, but George couldn't score well on tests, and there aren't any jobs for guys like him in The City. George never even wanted to sign his name, let alone fill in applications and reports.
When he bumps into his old gang leader, Ahmed, now a member of The City's Rescue Squad, George is swept up in the excitement of a hunt for a trapped girl. It is George who finds her with his special talent. George rapidly becomes the unconventional pride of the Rescue Squad. With Ahmed to run interference for him with the bureaucracy, George becomes a "consultant," and his talents grow. And George begins to change.
With each success he discovers more about himself and more about the society he lives in, and he begins to doubt. When a missing computerman's knowledge is put to use by an irresponsible gang of revolutionaries, threatening to destroy The City. George rescues the computerman and meets Larry, warped boy-genius and leader of the gang. But Larry asks questions George can't answer, and after Larry escapes, George knows he has to find him to continue the discussion. Only George is captured by Larry and forced to become a tool of Larry's mad iconoclasm. In Larry's control, George's talents pose the greatest threat of all to The City... George himself has become the missing man.
[The City = NYC]
From the DJ end-flaps: George Sanford has a gift for guessing right and very little else going for him. When Ahmed and his other friends in his gang grew up, they all advanced in school and got jobs, but George couldn't score well on tests, and there aren't any jobs for guys like him in The City. George never even wanted to sign his name, let alone fill in applications and reports.
When he bumps into his old gang leader, Ahmed, now a member of The City's Rescue Squad, George is swept up in the excitement of a hunt for a trapped girl. It is George who finds her with his special talent. George rapidly becomes the unconventional pride of the Rescue Squad. With Ahmed to run interference for him with the bureaucracy, George becomes a "consultant," and his talents grow. And George begins to change.
With each success he discovers more about himself and more about the society he lives in, and he begins to doubt. When a missing computerman's knowledge is put to use by an irresponsible gang of revolutionaries, threatening to destroy The City. George rescues the computerman and meets Larry, warped boy-genius and leader of the gang. But Larry asks questions George can't answer, and after Larry escapes, George knows he has to find him to continue the discussion. Only George is captured by Larry and forced to become a tool of Larry's mad iconoclasm. In Larry's control, George's talents pose the greatest threat of all to The City... George himself has become the missing man.
[The City = NYC]
Paperback
First published April 1, 1975
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About the author
Katherine MacLean
146 books20 followersKatherine Anne MacLean (born January 22, 1925) is an American science fiction author best known for her short stories of the 1950s which examined the impact of technological advances on individuals and society.
Brian Aldiss noted that she could "do the hard stuff magnificently," while Theodore Sturgeon observed that she "generally starts from a base of hard science, or rationalizes psi phenomena with beautifully finished logic." Although her stories have been included in numerous anthologies and a few have had radio and television adaptations, The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy (1962) is her only collection of short fiction.
Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, MacLean concentrated on mathematics and science in high school. At the time her earliest stories were being published in 1949-50, she received a B.A. in economics from Barnard College (1950), followed by postgraduate studies in psychology at various universities. Her 1951 marriage to Charles Dye ended in divorce a year later. She married David Mason in 1956. Their son, Christopher Dennis Mason, was born in 1957, and they divorced in 1962.
MacLean taught literature at the University of Maine and creative writing at the Free University of Portland. Over decades, she has continued to write while employed in a wide variety of jobs -- as book reviewer, economic graphanalyst, editor, EKG technician, food analyst, laboratory technician in penicillin research, nurse's aide, office manager and payroll bookkeeper. photographer, pollster, public relations, publicist and store detective.
It was while she worked as a laboratory technician in 1947 that she began writing science fiction. Strongly influenced by Ludwig von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory, her fiction has often demonstrated a remarkable foresight in scientific advancements.
Brian Aldiss noted that she could "do the hard stuff magnificently," while Theodore Sturgeon observed that she "generally starts from a base of hard science, or rationalizes psi phenomena with beautifully finished logic." Although her stories have been included in numerous anthologies and a few have had radio and television adaptations, The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy (1962) is her only collection of short fiction.
Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, MacLean concentrated on mathematics and science in high school. At the time her earliest stories were being published in 1949-50, she received a B.A. in economics from Barnard College (1950), followed by postgraduate studies in psychology at various universities. Her 1951 marriage to Charles Dye ended in divorce a year later. She married David Mason in 1956. Their son, Christopher Dennis Mason, was born in 1957, and they divorced in 1962.
MacLean taught literature at the University of Maine and creative writing at the Free University of Portland. Over decades, she has continued to write while employed in a wide variety of jobs -- as book reviewer, economic graphanalyst, editor, EKG technician, food analyst, laboratory technician in penicillin research, nurse's aide, office manager and payroll bookkeeper. photographer, pollster, public relations, publicist and store detective.
It was while she worked as a laboratory technician in 1947 that she began writing science fiction. Strongly influenced by Ludwig von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory, her fiction has often demonstrated a remarkable foresight in scientific advancements.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 20, 2021
"Mass produced people, all differences all covered up and hidden. No creation, no evolution. Evolution is, we're here to try our differences, enjoy our own thing, make it or fail our own way. The differences are what matters, but you won't let them have differences to argue over. Just mass-produced people with the same personality and philosophy. Your personality and philosophy. Yours."
The short story this was based on absolute deserves its Nebula Award. Mrs. MacLean takes us through what it means to be human and asks the philosophical age old questions: Is good control over people just as bad as evil control over people? Is the illusion of choice when the outcomes are pre-programmed desirable? Are people who only stick with their own kind, those with exactly the same beliefs happy? Better people?
The above questions still being so fitting; especially in our day and age where simple opposing views or personal opinions, politely put forth are often shouted down and condemned engendering an intense frustration at the lack of discourse.
"Maybe a person would be half happy living your way, doing your thing, for a lifetime, but he has only one lifetime and you want to make him live your lifetime instead of his own. You'd make them into saints. You'd take away man's chance to be himself. That's murder or robbery. You humble saints are trying to steal lives."
The book is disjointed and confusing at times but this is on purpose the main character switches consciousnesses suddenly and without warning so the reader, rather than being hand held/spoon fed, experiences it just as the main character does.
The ending is excellent not at all what it seemed to be going toward. The climax perfect, exquisite. I can only echo other reviewers in saying "Why has this classic not been on more people's radars?" I consider myself incredibly lucky to have received this book among a Sci-Fi book bundler (Think opening collectible card packs but for books!). I will be seeking out her other works for sure.
The short story this was based on absolute deserves its Nebula Award. Mrs. MacLean takes us through what it means to be human and asks the philosophical age old questions: Is good control over people just as bad as evil control over people? Is the illusion of choice when the outcomes are pre-programmed desirable? Are people who only stick with their own kind, those with exactly the same beliefs happy? Better people?
The above questions still being so fitting; especially in our day and age where simple opposing views or personal opinions, politely put forth are often shouted down and condemned engendering an intense frustration at the lack of discourse.
"Maybe a person would be half happy living your way, doing your thing, for a lifetime, but he has only one lifetime and you want to make him live your lifetime instead of his own. You'd make them into saints. You'd take away man's chance to be himself. That's murder or robbery. You humble saints are trying to steal lives."
The book is disjointed and confusing at times but this is on purpose the main character switches consciousnesses suddenly and without warning so the reader, rather than being hand held/spoon fed, experiences it just as the main character does.
The ending is excellent not at all what it seemed to be going toward. The climax perfect, exquisite. I can only echo other reviewers in saying "Why has this classic not been on more people's radars?" I consider myself incredibly lucky to have received this book among a Sci-Fi book bundler (Think opening collectible card packs but for books!). I will be seeking out her other works for sure.
October 13, 2014
One of the most overlooked and undersung SF novels ever. Nebulla Award winner! Yet, no one knows about it.
Its brisk, lively; and engaging. Non-stop action. Great for teens. Great for building confidence in shy people.
The lead character (George) is a big cuddly bear. Mentally slow, backward, & fumbling--perceived as a 'loser' and 'misfit' in a fast-paced, chaotic, turbulent, futuristic New York. He generally struggles at life and relationships. But he has one interesting skill: empathy. He can vaguely sense people's feelings at very long distances.
Gradually, he discovers that he can be useful to society. Ahmed--a former street-tough whom George used to pal around with as a teen--now heads New York's overburdened rescue squad. Ahmed realizes George can be a valuable asset. He hires him as a consultant; and the fun begins as George uses his special talents to help locate citizens in trouble.
Its really a charming story. Give it a try.
Its brisk, lively; and engaging. Non-stop action. Great for teens. Great for building confidence in shy people.
The lead character (George) is a big cuddly bear. Mentally slow, backward, & fumbling--perceived as a 'loser' and 'misfit' in a fast-paced, chaotic, turbulent, futuristic New York. He generally struggles at life and relationships. But he has one interesting skill: empathy. He can vaguely sense people's feelings at very long distances.
Gradually, he discovers that he can be useful to society. Ahmed--a former street-tough whom George used to pal around with as a teen--now heads New York's overburdened rescue squad. Ahmed realizes George can be a valuable asset. He hires him as a consultant; and the fun begins as George uses his special talents to help locate citizens in trouble.
Its really a charming story. Give it a try.
January 2, 2015
Katherine Maclean is a short story writer and considered by the SF powers from it's golden age to be a grand dame of SF. This novel is expanded from a 1971 short story from Analog. The "novella" won a Nebula award.
The novel is more of a collection of short stories which are related by character, time and location. It occurs in a dystopian, balkanized NYC, sometime in the near future. George Sanford is a low class empath who grows into much more by going through a series of life events while acting as a consultant for the Rescue Squad, a bureaucracy responsible for saving people in trouble. George begins to question everything about himself and The City and becomes . These events are told as a series of vignettes any of which could have been the original Missing Man short story.
The prose is crisp and clear. George, Ahmed and Larry are of potential interest as characters and the novel has a second level dealing with identity, culture, society and politics. For me, though, it does not really work as a novel. More fleshing and coherence are needed. As is, it was not very interesting.
5 of 10 stars
The novel is more of a collection of short stories which are related by character, time and location. It occurs in a dystopian, balkanized NYC, sometime in the near future. George Sanford is a low class empath who grows into much more by going through a series of life events while acting as a consultant for the Rescue Squad, a bureaucracy responsible for saving people in trouble. George begins to question everything about himself and The City and becomes . These events are told as a series of vignettes any of which could have been the original Missing Man short story.
The prose is crisp and clear. George, Ahmed and Larry are of potential interest as characters and the novel has a second level dealing with identity, culture, society and politics. For me, though, it does not really work as a novel. More fleshing and coherence are needed. As is, it was not very interesting.
5 of 10 stars
February 1, 2016
Wow, what a great classic sci-fi story! Elements of hard science engineering mingle with the soft sciences in this psi-detective story replete with character nuance and moral uncertainty. MacLean's Heinleinisms contribute to Missing Man's traditional flavor and intriguing concepts, balancing straightforwardness with controversial ideas, sometimes in ways that will bother a modern reader. But with a million sci-fi concepts in one novel, each page could inspire its own novel, feeling more like an collection of episodes, but making it one of the better vintage sci-fi novels I've read. MacLean's futuristic imagination is keenly entertaining!
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/213781.html[return][return]This book, published in 1975, is a fix-up of three stories published in Analog between 1968 and 1971 featuring psychic detective George Sandford, the last of which won a Nebula. The setting is remarkable - New York in a world recovering from environmental catastrophe, where there is much greenery and derelict buildings (and vulnerable underwater suburbs), and significant social control in return for quality of life. Sandford's somewhat seedy character and his feelings of blurred identity when he tries to read the minds of criminals (or their victims) are quite vivid. It is reminiscent of Alfred Bester, Philip K Dick and John Brunner. MacLean was obviously a pretty talented author who simply didn't produce as much as the other three; the only other story by her I remember reading is "The Snowball Effect", about the small town sewing circle that takes over the world.
December 15, 2021
A beautifully written novel. Characters slowly developed and unveiled tantalizingly across the story. I really enjoyed this book, savoring only about a chapter a night as the writing was so dense ... as in packed with ideas, not difficult. So glad I picked this up and read it.
August 15, 2018
Missing Man was that rare sort of novel where I went into it with exceedingly few expectations. The back cover of the book tells nothing more than the name of the novel—Missing Man—and the fact that it incorporates the Nebula award winning short story Science Fiction’s Greatest Man Hunt. The cover shows two nondescript cop-like figures holding guns in front of a vehicle labeled ‘police,’ and the elevator pitch tells me that a great city requires a great police force.
My expectations were, I think, understandable: that the story would revolve around a manhunt, a missing man, and that the main characters would be police.
It does not and the main characters are not.
This is where I’d normally feel a tremendous amount of sympathy for the author. They have precious little control over what happens to the outside of their book, and publishers often don’t care about accurately selling the book so much as selling the book at all. If misleading covers and bad back copy are what get it off the shelves, so be it.
Except, well, even though there were aspects of Missing Man that I liked, it didn’t leave me capable of feeling much sympathy. And while the good parts were quite good (unlike, say, Demon Drums , where the good parts were good in theory but mediocre in practice), they weren’t good enough to outweigh the bad parts. When I finished reading Missing Man, I slammed the book down on my couch and said “well, that was a dumb fucking book.”
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let me start at the beginning.
George is a young man. He’s not very quick—by our standards it would be easy to assert he has significant learning disabilities—but he’s competent in his own way, and kind, and driven, and incredibly sensitive to others. So sensitive, in fact, that he can use telepathy to tune into other people. He leans on this ability to get out of trouble and make people sympathetic to him (though never in predatory ways), but strikes unexpected gold when he uses his telepathy to help a member of the Rescue Squad find a dying woman. Saving people and averting disasters is all that the Rescue Squad does, and George is exceptional in this capacity. He’s quickly hired on as a consultant to the force.
Okay, so far, so good. I liked George, and I loved that he’s not a wunderkind. Hell, I loved that MacLean portrayed someone with a learning disability, and that he has so much agency. He’s not pitiable, he’s not pathetic, and he’s not (so) desperate; he’s just a guy who is different from the ‘norm’ and good at his own thing.
I also liked aspects of the world. For example, statistics are king. George’s ESP isn’t entirely believed or accepted, but he obliterates the odds when it comes to finding hard-to-find people, so the statistics are in his favor. Even if no one in the department believed that he had these powers, they’d keep him on the roster because the statistics say that he has something going on. A hard-facts, science-is-god sort of world that puts a man claiming to have ESP on a pedestal because they can’t refute his success rate; that’s delightful.
Initially, too, there was a sort of satisfaction in reading a book that bucks all expectations. When, approximately 20% into the novel, George is given visions of a catastrophe, it’s easy to assume that the plot of the novel will be averting this disaster. So when, not many pages later, the catastrophe occurs without George doing anything at all to stop it, I felt this thrill of “Oh my cod, anything can happen!”
The problem, of course, is that anything can happen.
There’s a weird plot about ‘autistics’ taking over the world and molding it to their favor at the express exclusion of others. [Note, George is not considered an ‘autistic.’]
There’s a weird plot where kind, sweet George falls in with an unrepentant mass-murderer (to the tune of thousands of deaths) because kind, sweet George just kind of likes him? He knows 100% that this guy has caused untold deaths, but, you know. Eh. (This guy’s name is Larry. What do you think the odds are that this is an intentional riff on George and Lennie of Of Mice And Men, juxtaposing their roles to pose a philosophical question about intelligence?)
There’s a weird plot barely tangential to the story, though it gets a surprising amount of time dedicated to it, revolving around the hostilities between Israel and its Arabic neighbors. It smacks of racism and xenophobia, though the fact that it holds both groups in low esteem is confusing. These days I’m so used to people openly favoring one side while even-more-openly disparaging the other. Favoring neither is baffling. The fact that Missing Man also hints at the fact that the United States had a role to play in the de-stability in the Middle East is also a head scratcher. The whole sub-plot was bizarre and, honestly, didn’t interact with the point of the story at all. While reading I wondered how much of it was Kathleen MacLean just wanting to say her piece. [Note, racial slurs for Jewish folk are thrown around by passing characters.]
There’s a weird plot hugely, if unbelievably convolutedly, tied to the main plot involving a bunch of ESPs in California that try to connect with George but can’t for one reason or another. He thinks they’re hallucinations. It’s obvious to the reader that they’re not, but even when I closed the book for good I couldn’t say what part they really played. They tempted Jesus in the desert, I guess? They offered George power, and he turned that power down, but there was no weight to that feeling. George never struggled not to play god—he was always a good, kind guy that trusted and believed in people. So the climax where he says “No! I won’t use my power to control people!” is the first I’m hearing of this struggle, which means that I don’t care. How could I? He’s announcing he won’t do the bad thing at the same moment that I’m learning he’s tempted to do the bad thing. It’s a non-issue.
Worse, even the good parts of Missing Man are so quickly dropped, so poorly fleshed out, or so superfluous they lose their charm. One of the first things George does is find try to locate a pregnant woman—who he doesn’t realize is a friend of his—who he can feel is dying trapped and alone somewhere. He finds her inexplicably trapped in her attic.
It’s a strong moment: George has proved his telepathy works, and, huzzah! He’s saved an old friend from dying alone, slowly and agonizingly, of thirst.
It also adds a pop of intrigue. Was her almost-demise an honest accident or fair play? Will she recover from her ordeal? Will her baby survive? Is this connected to George in any way?
Who knows, because she never re-enters the picture. Hell, George never even thinks of her again. He solved that mystery, it's in the past, and that's that.
Honestly, had this been a collection of short stories about George’s life, I could easily see this as a four-star book. The world had its merits, George was likable and unique, and there was something soothing about him saving people. Everything—and I really mean everything—that tied those sub-plots into a novel, though, was awful, shallow, poorly-conceived and barely related yet offered up with glib optimism. Worse, these elements became greater than the sum of their parts and started to overpower my previous enjoyment.
Yeech.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
My expectations were, I think, understandable: that the story would revolve around a manhunt, a missing man, and that the main characters would be police.
It does not and the main characters are not.
This is where I’d normally feel a tremendous amount of sympathy for the author. They have precious little control over what happens to the outside of their book, and publishers often don’t care about accurately selling the book so much as selling the book at all. If misleading covers and bad back copy are what get it off the shelves, so be it.
Except, well, even though there were aspects of Missing Man that I liked, it didn’t leave me capable of feeling much sympathy. And while the good parts were quite good (unlike, say, Demon Drums , where the good parts were good in theory but mediocre in practice), they weren’t good enough to outweigh the bad parts. When I finished reading Missing Man, I slammed the book down on my couch and said “well, that was a dumb fucking book.”
I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Let me start at the beginning.
George is a young man. He’s not very quick—by our standards it would be easy to assert he has significant learning disabilities—but he’s competent in his own way, and kind, and driven, and incredibly sensitive to others. So sensitive, in fact, that he can use telepathy to tune into other people. He leans on this ability to get out of trouble and make people sympathetic to him (though never in predatory ways), but strikes unexpected gold when he uses his telepathy to help a member of the Rescue Squad find a dying woman. Saving people and averting disasters is all that the Rescue Squad does, and George is exceptional in this capacity. He’s quickly hired on as a consultant to the force.
Okay, so far, so good. I liked George, and I loved that he’s not a wunderkind. Hell, I loved that MacLean portrayed someone with a learning disability, and that he has so much agency. He’s not pitiable, he’s not pathetic, and he’s not (so) desperate; he’s just a guy who is different from the ‘norm’ and good at his own thing.
I also liked aspects of the world. For example, statistics are king. George’s ESP isn’t entirely believed or accepted, but he obliterates the odds when it comes to finding hard-to-find people, so the statistics are in his favor. Even if no one in the department believed that he had these powers, they’d keep him on the roster because the statistics say that he has something going on. A hard-facts, science-is-god sort of world that puts a man claiming to have ESP on a pedestal because they can’t refute his success rate; that’s delightful.
Initially, too, there was a sort of satisfaction in reading a book that bucks all expectations. When, approximately 20% into the novel, George is given visions of a catastrophe, it’s easy to assume that the plot of the novel will be averting this disaster. So when, not many pages later, the catastrophe occurs without George doing anything at all to stop it, I felt this thrill of “Oh my cod, anything can happen!”
The problem, of course, is that anything can happen.
There’s a weird plot about ‘autistics’ taking over the world and molding it to their favor at the express exclusion of others. [Note, George is not considered an ‘autistic.’]
There’s a weird plot where kind, sweet George falls in with an unrepentant mass-murderer (to the tune of thousands of deaths) because kind, sweet George just kind of likes him? He knows 100% that this guy has caused untold deaths, but, you know. Eh. (This guy’s name is Larry. What do you think the odds are that this is an intentional riff on George and Lennie of Of Mice And Men, juxtaposing their roles to pose a philosophical question about intelligence?)
There’s a weird plot barely tangential to the story, though it gets a surprising amount of time dedicated to it, revolving around the hostilities between Israel and its Arabic neighbors. It smacks of racism and xenophobia, though the fact that it holds both groups in low esteem is confusing. These days I’m so used to people openly favoring one side while even-more-openly disparaging the other. Favoring neither is baffling. The fact that Missing Man also hints at the fact that the United States had a role to play in the de-stability in the Middle East is also a head scratcher. The whole sub-plot was bizarre and, honestly, didn’t interact with the point of the story at all. While reading I wondered how much of it was Kathleen MacLean just wanting to say her piece. [Note, racial slurs for Jewish folk are thrown around by passing characters.]
There’s a weird plot hugely, if unbelievably convolutedly, tied to the main plot involving a bunch of ESPs in California that try to connect with George but can’t for one reason or another. He thinks they’re hallucinations. It’s obvious to the reader that they’re not, but even when I closed the book for good I couldn’t say what part they really played. They tempted Jesus in the desert, I guess? They offered George power, and he turned that power down, but there was no weight to that feeling. George never struggled not to play god—he was always a good, kind guy that trusted and believed in people. So the climax where he says “No! I won’t use my power to control people!” is the first I’m hearing of this struggle, which means that I don’t care. How could I? He’s announcing he won’t do the bad thing at the same moment that I’m learning he’s tempted to do the bad thing. It’s a non-issue.
Worse, even the good parts of Missing Man are so quickly dropped, so poorly fleshed out, or so superfluous they lose their charm. One of the first things George does is find try to locate a pregnant woman—who he doesn’t realize is a friend of his—who he can feel is dying trapped and alone somewhere. He finds her inexplicably trapped in her attic.
It’s a strong moment: George has proved his telepathy works, and, huzzah! He’s saved an old friend from dying alone, slowly and agonizingly, of thirst.
It also adds a pop of intrigue. Was her almost-demise an honest accident or fair play? Will she recover from her ordeal? Will her baby survive? Is this connected to George in any way?
Who knows, because she never re-enters the picture. Hell, George never even thinks of her again. He solved that mystery, it's in the past, and that's that.
Honestly, had this been a collection of short stories about George’s life, I could easily see this as a four-star book. The world had its merits, George was likable and unique, and there was something soothing about him saving people. Everything—and I really mean everything—that tied those sub-plots into a novel, though, was awful, shallow, poorly-conceived and barely related yet offered up with glib optimism. Worse, these elements became greater than the sum of their parts and started to overpower my previous enjoyment.
Yeech.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
March 22, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award for Best Novel
Katherine MacLean’s underrated and seldom read novel Missing Man (1975) was expanded from her 1971 Nebula Award winning novella by the same name. I’ve not read the original version so I’m unsure about how much was added, subtracted, or completely re-conceptualized.
The novel version is a finely wrought vision of a future post-disaster Balkanized New York City comprised of innumerable communes, often at war with [...]"
"Nominated for the 1976 Nebula Award for Best Novel
Katherine MacLean’s underrated and seldom read novel Missing Man (1975) was expanded from her 1971 Nebula Award winning novella by the same name. I’ve not read the original version so I’m unsure about how much was added, subtracted, or completely re-conceptualized.
The novel version is a finely wrought vision of a future post-disaster Balkanized New York City comprised of innumerable communes, often at war with [...]"
September 18, 2023
I enjoyed Katherine MacLean's story "The Missing Man," (which won a Nebula) and since that's one of the works we're discussing at our local science fiction group this month, I decided to read the novel version. The novel is based on the story (though rewritten to be in first person rather than third person), plus several other stories from Analog, and new material b y MacLean. Unfortunately, this makes the whole thing rather disjointed, and it doesn't work as a well as a novel as the central story did on its own.
George Sanford is a telepath. He's recruited by his friend Ahmed to join the Rescue Squad, a group that uses computer analysis of trends, combined with telepathy, to find people who are in danger and rescue them. George, though untrained, is much better at finding people than anyone they've ever seen. The various stories of the novel involve George finding people or stopping violent acts (or trying to but not managing it in one case). Several of the stories are quite good, and I think this novel would have been better had it simply be presented as a collection of related short stories, rather than trying to weld them into a novel.
MacLean's prose is often very good, and the society she sets up is well thought out and interesting. But there are a few places in the last parts of the book where she switches between third person and first person within sections, sometimes from paragraph to paragraph, in a way that's rather jarring.
Overall, a book that's less than the sum of its parts.
George Sanford is a telepath. He's recruited by his friend Ahmed to join the Rescue Squad, a group that uses computer analysis of trends, combined with telepathy, to find people who are in danger and rescue them. George, though untrained, is much better at finding people than anyone they've ever seen. The various stories of the novel involve George finding people or stopping violent acts (or trying to but not managing it in one case). Several of the stories are quite good, and I think this novel would have been better had it simply be presented as a collection of related short stories, rather than trying to weld them into a novel.
MacLean's prose is often very good, and the society she sets up is well thought out and interesting. But there are a few places in the last parts of the book where she switches between third person and first person within sections, sometimes from paragraph to paragraph, in a way that's rather jarring.
Overall, a book that's less than the sum of its parts.
October 5, 2022
This is a quite solid if in some ways dated (the brief comments about autism rather clang today) SF novel about a near-future world hovering on the edge of dystopia. George Sanford has undeveloped ESP powers that he uses as a member of the police force's Rescue Squad to find and help people in distress, and/or to try to prevent disasters. MacLean's imagined 1999 is interesting complex, and the novel delves into some intriguing moral questions as well, mainly about social engineering. What is the balance between individual freedom and the overall social good? The society in this novel has decided to neuter people who don't conform, and to modify the minds of maladaptives and criminals, sometimes completely wiping their original personalities. Grim stuff, and MacLean does present one of the architects of this plan as deliberately trying to eliminate what he sees as undesirables from the world. George, as our focal character, has to negotiate between his role within the system and his admiration for the genius teen gang leader who is trying to tear down the system via acts of terrorism. MacLean eschews simple moral binarism. I knew nothing about this book before reading it and now see it as one of the great many SF novels that merits more attention than it has received, at least to my knowledge.
November 16, 2025
She is brilliantly mentally deceptive with her characters orientation and perceptions of reality however dimly perceived. She can slip continuum dimensions, alternative parallel realities where deception necessitates perception to navigate events caused my some unstable types. And in this New York of the future there a many. The surprises never cease. Though the blurb gives a wrong impression and makes it too two dimensional in the plot. Since there are several. Not to be rushed because she can put so much into a sentence other writers struggle with even one or two ideas at best. But that is not her fault it is main stream publishers underestimating the mental capabilities of science fiction readers.
November 8, 2024
Fast paced, strange idea of future, Rescue Squad partners, George Sanford using his ESP to track people. Just not sure if the story line is shot at the reader so fast as to redirect one’s attention.
Bought a used paperback, Berkley Medallion edition Jan. 1976. It has a heavy stock ad page in the center advertising Kent filter smokes on one side & True smokes on the other.
Bought a used paperback, Berkley Medallion edition Jan. 1976. It has a heavy stock ad page in the center advertising Kent filter smokes on one side & True smokes on the other.
May 8, 2019
An interesting story that holds up well for today's audience. Wasn't sure when I started what to expect; not a book to hurry thru. Would probably not have read on my own initiative; thanks to my reading group for placing it on our to read list.
March 4, 2024
A story told from the point of view of a man who has both a gift for guessing correctly and is also maybe on the autism spectrum? It feels like a series of short stories, but there is an overarching pattern of growth for the main character. I liked it. I might read it again some day.
did-not-finish-or-start
July 14, 2021DNS 7/14/2021
July 2, 2025
Dystopian thinking
This book was initially a hard read. There interesting tidbits of psychology that makes the story fun. It makes an interesting study of good and evil, supposedly good people doing evil things because they have the power to do it. It also shows that too many people let others think for them which makes them stupid.
This book was initially a hard read. There interesting tidbits of psychology that makes the story fun. It makes an interesting study of good and evil, supposedly good people doing evil things because they have the power to do it. It also shows that too many people let others think for them which makes them stupid.
May 4, 2012
Early 70s SF reminiscent of Russ and Delany and earlier works by Bester and Huxley, set in a utopian/dystopian New York city of communes and enclaves. An enjoyable read that surprised me on occasion with its insight and prescience.
June 16, 2009
I have no recollection of reading this science fiction novel.
October 28, 2015
Read the short story.
Read
May 2, 2019I have the german edition: Der Esper und die Stadt
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