Sunday, June 02, 2013

A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly is a book about drugged out junkies. Because it was written by Philip K. Dick, he threw in a few science fiction elements (such as a "scramble suit", however, it wouldn't take much work to take those out and make it a "straight" piece on the drug users. He, alas, seems to know the community well from experience. These are people that made a choice and are now paying the consequences. The plot centers around an undercover narcotics agent who also happens to be a drug addict and dealer. One of his main female contacts is, unbeknownst to him, also undercover. She is using him to infiltrate a drug rehab center, which we find is the supplier for the highly-addictive "substance D". In between, we have many drug-induced hallucinations and details of the behavior of these junkies. It is typical Dick trippy darkness, but without the imagination and story-telling of his other works.

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