Dr. Bloodmoney [Paperback]

Philip K. Dick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1985

Dr. Bloodmoney is a post-nuclear-holocaust masterpiece filled with a host of Dick’s most memorable characters: Hoppy Harrington, a deformed mutant with telekinetic powers; Walt Dangerfield, a selfless disc jockey stranded in a satellite circling the globe; Dr. Bluthgeld, the megalomaniac physicist largely responsible for the decimated state of the world; and Stuart McConchie and Bonnie Keller, two unremarkable people bent the survival of goodness in a world devastated by evil. Epic and alluring, this brilliant novel is a mesmerizing depiction of Dick’s undying hope in humanity.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Written in the late 1950s and early 1960s, these titles follow Dick's familiar theme that things and people are not quite what and who they seem, basically challenging reality. Though dead for 20 years now, Dick still is hugely popular among sf readers and Blade Runner nuts, so pop for these.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“[A] brilliant, idiosyncratic, formidably intelligent writer. . . . Dick illuminates. He casts light. He gives off a radiance.” --The Washington Post

“Philip K. Dick’s best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable.” --The New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; Bluejay special ed edition (April 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312941056
• ISBN-13: 978-0312941055
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,453,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where have I been all these years?, November 1, 2005

By 

Edward E. Rom (Mankato, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dr. Bloodmoney (Paperback)

I have been aware of the work of Philip K. Dick for a very long time; I can recall seeing the Ace Double with _Dr. Futurity_ on one side on the racks when it was new. The same is true with _Dr. Bloodmoney_. I think I made my first attempt at reading a Dick novel when I was in junior high school, and over the ensuing 40 years or so have periodically made more attempts at enjoying the work of Dick, with infrequent success.

Now it is as though I have discovered a new writer, and in some ways it's like being in elementary school and discovering Heinlein, van Vogt, Poul Anderson etc. again. In the case of this particular book, it is indeed new to me, as I never tried _Dr. Bloodmoney_ before.

This book starts out just like a mainstream novel, and slips into the stfnal mode gradually, by stages. At the beginning, it's just a normal day at a TV store in Berkeley, CA. But after a bit, things start to get a little strange, when it is revealed that the phocomelus is not only telekinetic, but also can see the future, if he drinks a bottle of beer. By the end of the book things have gotten stranger than you're likely to expect, which is part of what I love about this book. Another part is that the characters are still very believable, even when they are doing convincing telepathic impersonations of the dead, or the like.

Dick's strengths are not the strengths of most science fiction writers. His science tends to be weak, while he excels in plotting and characterization. His strongest point is his ability to juxtapose extremely weird ideas with convincing characters and plotlines. It all actually makes sense, at least if the reader has mental flexibility.

If you're a fan of Dick, I think you would like this book very much. If you're familiar with sf, but not with the work of Dick, you can expect it to not be anything like the other authors you've read. Philip K. Dick is in his own way even more idiosyncratic than Jack Vance, which is saying something!

I highly recommend this book.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prejudice, Paranoia, and the Bomb, September 17, 2002

By 

benshlomo "benshlomo" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dr. Bloodmoney (Paperback)

The first image in this novel is that of a black man named Stuart McConchie sweeping the sidewalk in front of a Berkeley TV shop, eyeing the pretty girls on their way to work and indulging in some contempt for the approaching patients of the psychiatrist across the street. In any ordinary novel, that image would tell you that the book is going to be about that black man and those patients. In PKD, the image tells you that the book will be about prejudice.

The average author, to tackle that theme, would provide us with a group of unprejudiced characters battling a group of prejudiced ones and make it very clear which are the good guys and which the bad guys. PKD was always a little too smart for that. Just about every character in "Dr. Bloodmoney" is suspicious of pretty nearly every other character he or she meets at one time or another. That includes several characters who have good reason to be suspicious - Bruno Bluthgeld, for instance, the Dr. Bloodmoney of the title, who believes himself personally responsible for the nuclear exchange that brings the world to its knees. Hoppy Harrington, too, has good reason for his suspicions - he's a telekinetic biological sport with no arms or legs at a time when atomic radiation has produced talking dogs and musical rats, so everyone's been looking at him funny his whole life; he's not just imagining things.

However, the culture of suspicion even affects little Edie Keller and the undeveloped but quite powerful twin brother in her body. The culture of suspicion gets to Edie's father, George, who thinks his wife is cheating on him (he's right). It affects everyone, even the best of men and women. About the only character with no prejudice to speak of in "Dr. Bloodmoney" is Walt Dangerfield, left stranded in an orbiting satellite by the outbreak of war, and his lack of suspicion eventually leaves him the most vulnerable of all.

The good guys, in other words, are highly intolerant of anyone or anything new. PKD makes good use of the irony that this xenophobia blinds the people of West Marin County to the dangers that Bruno Bluthgeld and Hoppy Harrington pose to them directly, simply because both men have been around them for awhile. There are plenty of mainstream novels which deal with that very subject - you could name ten or more in less than five minutes - without the necessity of dragging in nuclear war and mutant mental powers.

In short, this is maybe the least SF that an SF novel could possibly be. This is not necessarily a criticism, of course - in fact, it would make "Dr. Bloodmoney" an excellent entry point into the works of PKD except for one thing. The story doesn't really get moving until about a third of the way in.

The novel is one of PKD's longest, and he spends a good bit of time on the events of the day the bombs come down. The story proper, however, begins seven years later, when a worldwide culture of semi-rural enclaves has settled into its routine, loosely knit together by communications from the man in the satellite. The opening events have little or no connection to the main plot, although there's a nice description of World War III as seen through the eyes of a man who just knows it's all a figment of his imagination. Nevertheless, as nicely written as those passages are, I found myself thinking that "Dr. Bloodmoney" could have used a little tightening up. Take the passage where a mushroom hunter watches Hoppy Harrington nearly get run down by a wood-burning truck. Now there's a good opening scene, I thought - why not start here and add in all that backstory during the main plot instead of making me wait all this time?

So, one star off for some loose-jointed plotting. Why not two stars off? Because those first pages, although they dangle from the book like a participle, do not strike me as unnecessary. Far from it - those pages contain some critical information, so critical that by the time the story proper kicked in I was thoroughly hooked. They just needed to be woven in more tightly, that's all. And PKD was notorious for writing fast and furiously - he needed the money. One more crime to chalk up to the American publishing industry, I suppose. Then again, they did publish "Dr. Bloodmoney", warts and all - let's be thankful for what we've got.

And, to return to the point we started with, let's hope that "Dr. Bloodmoney" teaches us what life can be like when, like most of these characters, we lay aside our prejudices and work together to build something good.

Benshlomo says, Some good art, like some good life, is messy.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 1965 SciFi with vision to the future...of 1981 and beyond, September 15, 2005

By 

Schtinky "Schtinky" (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dr. Bloodmoney (Paperback)

Even though Philip Dick wrote his SciFi in the 50's and 60's, his style, prose, and vision remain timeless. His ability to nail the human character transcends the time frame of his works.

In 1972, an "accident" occurred, due to a mistake by scientist Dr. Bruno Bluthgeld. Bruno, aka "Mr. Tree", hasn't been able to live with himself since the accident, and seeks the help of psychiatrist Dr. Stockstill during the year 1981. As he steps out from Stockstill's offices, the bombs begin to fall.

Surviving the bombs are also Hoppy Harrington, an armless and legless thalidomide victim with telekinetic powers, Walter Dangerfield, who was sent up in a ship with his wife to travel to Mars but wound out eternally orbiting the earth instead, Stuart McConchie, a TV repairman, and Bonnie Keller, an unhappy housewife and former associate of Dr. Bluthgeld.

They all find themselves in the same West Marin community, living an urban life with no electricity and traveling by wood-burning vehicles or horse. Bonny has a child now, a strange girl with a twin brother inside of her. Bluthgeld becomes more deranged, Walt becomes sick, Hoppy becomes a megalomaniac, and Bonnie's twin Bill awakens.

Things get stranger and stranger in West Marin as the survivors struggle to stay alive, not only in the blighted world, but inside their newly emerged social structures.

'Dr. Bloodmoney' is not the best of Philip Dick's works, but is a memorable tale to add to your collection. Strangely compelling with odd, unpredictable characters, this book makes a very nice beach or vacation read. Enjoy!