Customer Reviews

Kronk

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If you enjoy browsing through used book stores and picking up forgotten old paperbacks for a buck apiece, this out-of-print sci-fi oddity from Edmund Cooper might be something to watch for. This would also be of interest to historians of science fiction who are into the experimental and satirical exercises from authors of the hippie era. It's hardly an immortal classic, but it is a likeable period piece when you keep in mind that it's from 1971. The plotline involves a virus called P939 which inhibits all aggression and also happens to be a venereal disease. The old scientist who developed the virus has injected it into his young trophy wife, who in turn has passed it on to her suave new boyfriend. The two of them then hatch a plan to spread the virus in the obvious fashion, and create peace and love all over the world. However, some Russian spies and various corporate villains wish to use the virus for their own nefarious ends, while pesky old human nature keeps wrecking the plan for a new utopia. Note that this book is rather sexist (a real product of its time), and Cooper is too busy crafting stylish dialogue and satirizing government and corporate structures to really explore the intriguing issues that he raises. However, this is a genuinely funny novel and Cooper's satire really hits hard in a few places. [~doomsdayer520~]