Wireheads are the new junkies, with electricity their drug of choice. Once the socket is surgically attached to the skull, a mild current constantly stimulates the pleasure centers, producing ectasy beyond measure - and if wirehead is left plugged in and unattended, he or she will starve to death while experiencing indescribable joy. Which is what would have happened to Karen if a highly ethical burglar named Joe hadn't broken into her apartment, pulled her plug, and talked her out of committing suicide by ectasy. Now, Karen is determined to bring down those who sell the equipment that makes wireheading possible, but as she and Joe attempt to trace the source of the wirehead technology, they keep turning up indications of a shadowy global conspiracy -not to control the world, but to prevent anyone fromn realizing that the masters of mind control have been controlling us all for some time now...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed; Since this is really 2 books, I'll review them both.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Deathkiller (Mass Market Paperback)
The score is only 9 because I'm writing about "Mindkiller" and "Time Pressure" together now that they have been issued together as "Deathkiller," more about that in a minute. I have a lot of books I've read twice (most of Spider's, Heinlein's, McCaffrey's, and Niven's), but few books I've read three or more times. "Mindkiller" is one of those few. I'd read "God Is An Iron" in the short story, so I was thrilled to see it expanded into the novel, and the wait was well worth it! I had not been able to find (and still can't) very much of Spider's stuff here locally. I think the new bookstores sell out too fast, and almost NO ONE ever gives up one of his books to the used bookstores. Each time I read "Mindkiller " I desperately wanted more, more, more. I think Spider's melding of the 2 different and eventually converging story lines is fantastic. His detail is excellent and his realism absolutely wonderful. This book is one I chose to read (the second time) because I KNEW it would rouse me from a deep blue funk, and I was correct. If I was grading this book separately, it would be a "10" without question, and even with "Time Pressure" getting my grading of about a 7, the weighting of "Mindkiller" makes this combined score a 9. It is not a simple averaging, by any means. This is a MUST READ. I even got my wife (not an SF fan) to read it and she is asking for more of Spider's stuff. On to "Time Pressure." The linking between these two books is not obvious (other than the Nova Scotia setting) until about two-thirds into "Time Pressure." I guess I wanted more detail and specifics like a continuation of the story line from where it had left off. Perhaps there wasn't much more there, though. I missed Joe/Norman and Karen, I guess. "Time Pressure" has , both figuratively and literally, too much of the "Deus Ex Machina" in it to rate the same depth of appeal as "Mindkiller." "Time Pressure" is still an easy and good read, and can be well understood even without reading "Mindkiller" first. It handles the potential paradoxes of travelling back in time very well, even to the point of needing to kill a telepath, if Rachel is one. (I wonder how much Snaker is modelled after Spider, bye the way). I wouldn't mind seeing something done about the time between these two books, something with the level of detail of Joe getting his new TV after smashing one in anger over Karen's departure. I'll review "Lifehouse" under that title; it makes up for the weaknesses in "Time Pressure."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Does absolute power *have* to corrupt absolutely?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Deathkiller (Mass Market Paperback)
What would you do if you had absolute power? If you could walk invisibly in a crowd, knowing that no one would see or remember you? What if you could take any action you desired, knowing that there was no penalty, no judgement, no repercussion?
What if you found out someone else already had that power?
When I saw a copy of Spider Robinson's "Deathkiller" on the store shelves, my first thought was that somehow the author and the publisher had slipped one over on me; a new tale of telepathy and humanity had bypassed hardcover publication and gone directly to mass-market release. When I turned the book over and read that this was a single-volume re-release of his earlier works "Mindkiller" and "Time Pressure" I very nearly set it right back down.
The only thing that saved me (and you, if you haven't read it yet for the very same reason) is my longtime habit of reading the Author's Notes even before purchasing a new book. In his Notes, Robinson talks a little about his reasons for this re-issue, and about some of the changes made in this edition.
Yep, that's right. Changes. Nothing of major plot-changing importance, but little things that you would never have seen had the author not pointed them out in his Notes. Robinson wants the story to get into your head, to make you believe, and by changing some minor background elements and advancing the calendar a few years he subtly transforms the world of "Deathkiller" into a familiar place you can easily live in.
If you are a Spider Robinson fan, this is a necessary addition to your collection. Even if you already own a copy of "Mindkiller" and "Time Pressure", this revised edition still reads like vintage Robinson; and it makes a terrific way to introduce a friend to a world which (the author hopes) is very like our own.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you discovered how to wipe minds, what would you do?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Deathkiller (Mass Market Paperback)
An English professor, a suicidal hooker and a non-existant man take on a man who can make them forget his very existance. An excellent book dealing with the nature of memories, the ethical dilemmas inherent in the ability to edit other's thoughts and why you should always turn off your vibrator before leaving the bedroom. "Deathkiller" reprints Robinson's earlier books "Mindkiller" and "Time Pressure" with a few rewrites to bring them up to date and tie together better, and there's a new sequel on the way
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