Customer Reviews

Buying Time

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Buying Time is another great book by a master of the genre of hard sci fi. Different from Haldeman's previous novels, Buying Time is less cerebral and more of a suspenseful thriller. Despite this change there is still a unique vision of a possible future here that Haldeman defines with an edgy cynical perspective. Haldeman's central characters defy the status quo and find themselves fighting to stay alive in a world where one corporation makes the rules about life and death.

The premise behind Buying Time is that in the near future a process is developed that lets people live forever. The catch is that only one company sells this process and it costs whoever wants it everything they own with a minimum payment of one million dollars. In addition the process only lasts for ten years. There are other onerous rules associated with making that million that makes it more difficult than usual for people to get rejuvenated.

A small group of people have managed to make a habit out of getting rejuvenated and become a subculture unto themselves. Dallas Barr is one of these people, having already lived for several hundred years. At the outset of the novel Dallas, along with a host of other immortals, is invited to join a secret group called the Steering Committee. His refusal to join initiates a series of events that set the book in motion.

The rest of the novel leads us through the mysteries of the Stileman Foundation (the makers of the Stileman rejuvenation process) the motivations of the Steering Committee and the effect it has on Dallas and his companion Maria Marconi.

Their relationship is played out in a relatively superficial manner, but the pacing of the book is such that it doesn't matter all that much. The tidbits that we are given are enough to give context to the situations that Dallas and Maria find themselves encountering. This combined with a plot filled with many mysteries keeps the pages turning throughout.

The only downside would be how the book ends. After a considerable buildup of suspense the ending feels like a bit of a cop out and doesn't seem to connect properly with the rest of the story. This is very much a book where a good middle props up a humdrum beginning and weak ending.

Buying Time is certainly a very good book, perhaps not in league with Haldeman's Worlds and Worlds Apart, but definitely a fun and thought provoking piece of science fiction.

Suspenseful and action-packed, with believable (and likable) characters and a lot of solid science-fictional ideas that come together in unexpected but inevitable ways. If I have one criticsm it's with the ending and the way in which one character is changed by a drug experience. I just didn't buy it. (Yes, i'm being vague to avoid spoiling it if you haven't read it.) Still a very worthwhile read.

Being a devoted SF fan with a library of hundreds of books, and with an interest ranging from early works of A.E. van Vogt in the 1940s to Gibson and all ranges of the field, I was surprised to read this book by a to me unknown author and find that it was the best one I ever read. The story is suspenseful, fastpaced, and reminds me of a mix between Alistair MacLean and John le Carre set in an SF universe. Haldemans descriptions of violence are, perhaps because of his history in the military, very lifelike, and succeeds in making you feel the shock and surprise that only reallife violence can {check out the boatscene with the exploding head}. I can only say READ IT!!!

Buying time is another strong classic sf novel by Haldeman. A lot of the technology seems dated now, looking back, but a lot of it still exceeds what we have today, which is amazing. His ability to put together plausible futures is close to unparalleled. Like a lot of Heinlein novels, Haldeman's early books more than hold up today if you can imagne them as "future history" that never actually happened. He's short on character but long on ideas and action. There is also always great scenery. Following the heroes through their adventures are always a lot of fun as they bounce from one strange city to another, not always on Earth.

All the twist of a classic suspense novel with a bit of Haldeman hard sci-fi thrown in. This is one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time.