Customer Reviews

The Power

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just finished rereading "The Power". Robinson apparently updated the text very slightly to set it in the 90's instead of the 50's. I haven't read the book in at least 25 years, so I can't recall all of the details, but it seems that he also cleaned up a couple of minor plot points. Overall the book is still quite good, but I think that he should have left it in the 50's, since that was its natural era.

The basic idea behind the plot is that a university gets a Navy contract to identify the factors that result in survival in battle (or other harsh conditions). They develop a questionaire, the people on the committee take it anonymously to "test the test", and one of the test scores is off the charts, but no one will admit to it. And then people start dying...

This is a very 50's idea at its core. This was the heyday of tests like the 16PF, which purported to be able to uncover people that were thieves (for instance). The idea was that you could write a test that included a lot of questions whose significance you barely understood yourself, give it to a big group of people that had a different "levels" of whatever trait you were looking for (measured independently -- that is, they survived desperate circumstances through something other than complete luck), and you'd apply statistical methods to construct the scoring formula that would be able to magically identify and quantify that trait. This is a great idea for use in a sci-fi thriller, so never mind that it didn't work very well. The only problem with pushing the book into the 90's is that this plot device needs some gee-whizzing to be contemporary, and that didn't change in the update. So my advice is to set it mentally in the 50's so that it's okay for the hero to travel by train, and ignore the references to the Vietnam and Gulf wars (which are glancing, at most).

I read this book, as a teenager, a number of years back and was so impressed that I remembered it all these years. Unfortunately, after reading the book a second time, I am less impressed. The premise of the book is still excellent, that of a person with mental abilities so advanced that they can control people's minds and mentally move inanimate objects. In short, an anomaly, a jump in evolution so advanced that he or she looks upon humanity as a person might look upon their pet dog. This superman is worried about being discovered and begins to kill those he suspects may be on to him.

To my dismay, after reading The Power again, after several intervening years, I find there are things about the story that just don't mesh. The book that I always thought was perfect has blemishes. This is surprising because the book was even made into a 1968 TV movie starring George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshett.

The Power is still an interesting book worth reading, attested by the rating others have given the book but the book that I once considered a sure fire 5 star is now, in my opinion, a low 4 star book.

Why are some people better at survival than others? The committee overseeing a Navy project researching that question discovers that one of its members possesses the qualities of the ultimate survivor -- never ill, never stressed, impossibly intelligent -- but they don't know which one it is and the gifted member refuses to identify himself. Soon one committee member dies and another nearly commits suicide, feeling compelled by an outside force to harm himself. As the body count mounts, Professor William Tanner's only hope of staying alive is to track down and kill the man who has the power to control minds.

The Power has the feel of a thriller with elements of a horror story rather than a science fiction novel. There isn't much science; no real attempt is made to explain the individual's extraordinary abilities. As a thriller, however, the novel succeeds. It has a fast-paced, action-filled plot that keeps the reader guessing. Even if the reader manages to deduce the killer's identity, the ending is completely unexpected.

My only quibbles are these: Tanner's schemes to solve the mystery seem a bit over-the-top. More importantly, at crucial moments the plot depends upon unlikely coincidences. I was willing to swallow my skepticism on both counts for the sake of plot advancement. The story is so fun that the flaws are easy to overlook. I recommend it to fans of thrillers, horror stories, and science fiction.

A final note: This 1956 novel was revised in 1999. It's not clear that the revision amounted to much more than changing the names of wars. Tanner "thumbs the starter" of a car he steals and he sees "hoods" hanging out on street corners, "hair thick with Vaseline and combed straight back, their sport coats too long in the sleeves and too big in the shoulders" -- not really a popular look for gang members in 1999 (athletic jackets, baggy jeans, and shaved heads having replaced the sport coat wearing greaser look). Also, I'm pretty sure the lunch counter was gone from the Walgreens on State Street in Chicago before 1999. Nonetheless, I didn't find the inconsistent revisions to be a significant distraction from the story.

I originally saw the movie with George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette. They still show it periodically on Turner Classic Movies. Of course, I had to read the book to find out what is always missing and implied in the movie. Naturally, the book was out of print. However, I found a copy. I was right the book was better. Of course I was disappointed to find that Suzanne (Margery Lansing) was written into many seines.
While looking for his new book I found to my amazement that "The Power" has been re-issued. However upon reading the book, I found dates and places changed. The changes were not significant. I just wished that he did not do it. Arthur Nordlund was in the Korean Campaign and that was before me. Now he was in the Gulf War and that was after me. Luckily, I know if I had met him, he would have been from the Vietnam War. I would have named this book "You've got to have Hart"

The Dark Beyond the Stars: A Novel

I originally saw the movie with George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette. They still show it periodically on Turner Classic Movies. Of course, I had to read the book to find out what is always missing and implied in the movie. Naturally, the book was out of print. However, I found a copy. I was right the book was better. Of course I was disappointed to find that Suzanne (Margery Lansing) was written into many seines.
While looking for his new book I found to my amazement that "The Power" has been re-issued. However upon reading the book, I found dates and places changed. The changes were not significant. I just wished that he did not do it. Arthur Nordlund was in the Korean Campaign and that was before me. Now he was in the Gulf War and that was after me. Luckily, I know if I had met him, he would have been from the Vietnam War. I would have named this book "You've got to have Hart"

The Dark Beyond the Stars: A Novel

Frank Robinson's book is vintage sci-fi. Like so many other classics it reads much like a mystery with the reader eager to find out the "whodunit." Adam Hart controlled the mind and body of John Olson in their high school days. Olson seemed a terrific athlete when it suited Hart. Years later when Olson was about to give away Hart's secret... Power..., Hart again took control of Olson and... made him die. This was not the first time that Hart made people die. And to keep the Power secret, Tanner was next.