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The Prisoner (Mass Market Paperback)

by Thomas M. Disch (Author) "Have you been here before?" he asked..." (more)
Key Phrases: Grandmother Bug, Better Books, Mistress Overdone (more...)

3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Disch's 1967 sf novel was the basis for the cult favorite TV show of the same name. A secret agentDknown only as Number 6Ddecides to quit the spy game. However, one morning he wakes up in a pleasant seaside town in which he is essentially a prisoner to his former employers. The old TV series still has a following, and there's talk of a feature film adaptation with Russell Crowe. Note that ibooks also offers Robert Fairclough's The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series (ISBN 0-7434-5256-9), which comes bundled with a DVD of the show's first episode.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"[This novel is] closely based on the extraordinary TV series, far and away the finest thing the medium has done in this genre; while Disch himself is one of the best SF writers." - Observer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: I Books (October 28, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 074347533X
ISBN-13: 978-0743475334
Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,874,253 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
"Have you been here before?" he asked. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Grandmother Bug, Better Books, Mistress Overdone, True Self

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 36 books:

Blood Music (Ibooks Science Fiction Classics) by Greg Bear in Front Matter, and Back Matter
The Dream Master (The Nebula Award-Winning Novel) by Roger Zelazny in Front Matter
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg in Front Matter
Measure for Measure (Signet Classics) by William Shakespeare on page 167
Return To Eden by Dean Harrison in Front Matter

See all 36 books this book cites

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

3.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Change from the Ordinary Science Fiction, December 27, 2003

By	Sissalou "sissalou" (SAINT CLAIR, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Prisoner (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed Thomas M. Disch's book, "The Prisoner." Like some of the other reviewers, I watched many "The Prisoner" episodes on television several decades ago. As a youngster, I never understood the television series and I won't claim to understand this book, but I liked the show because it was a change from the "norm."

In a nutshell (pun intended), I enjoyed this book soley for its entertainment merit. I wasn't looking for something "new" that was not revealed in the television episodes. I was looking for a "story" and found one.

Do you want to buy this book? I would say "yes" if you are looking for a change of entertainment pace--regardless of the story itself and Note: you don't need to be familiar with the TV series to understand the story.

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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, August 10, 2003

By	Peter L. Winkler "Word King" (North Hollywood, California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Prisoner (Paperback)

I bought a used copy of Disch's Prisoner novel because I greatly enjoyed Disch's nonfiction book on sf, The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, had never read his fiction, and also hungered for a new story about No. 6. This novel was a great disappointment. It seems to combine elements from several Prisoner TV episodes (like the dream visualization technique and the female doctor from A,B&C) to no great advantage. Apart from those elements, the story has no great premise or narrative drive, and even the conclusion was confusing. Disch may be a great prose stylist, but if he is elsewhere, he isn't here.

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9 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Really Bad, September 1, 2003

By	C. W. Toraason "macboots" (Misawa, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Prisoner (Paperback)

Let me start off by saying I've never seen the TV show.

I've also never heard of Thomas Disch before. I stumbled across his name in a book review for a Margaret Atwood novel. I liked his writing style, and this book sounded interesting so I picked it up.

It's trash. The best thing I can say about it is it's not long, so the pain is over quickly.

Disch beats (and beats and beats) you over the head with his not-so-clever connection between No. 6's prison and the everyday lives we live in the modern age. Most of the time this is pointed at the not-so-original target of suburbia, but during an escape to London the novel turns its dull wit towards the almost as un-original urban business climate.

The author's writing style, which appealed to me in his review, is garbage in this story. An otherwise dull narrative section will be interrupted by abrupt and overdone imagery. The characters lack any sort of depth and don't seem at all real; No. 6 has decided to retire because it's what the character needs to start the story. The plot has what you could call twists, but it goes between them directly and orderly, as if the writer himself wanted to get rid of each one in turn to relieve the burden of having to write any further complications. The ending (revealing the uninteresting mystery of No. 1's identity) as noted in other reviews, is bizarre and seems completely out of place.

Leave it. I recommend this book to sadists and those who want a break from reading the dictionary.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars No Need
There was no need for this book. It doesn't answer any questions, the story goes nowhere new.

Published on August 6, 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars No Need
There was no need for this book. It doesn't answer any questions, the story goes nowhere new.
Why write a story that takes place after the ending of the Prisoner series when in... Read more

Published on August 6, 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars Dejavu all over again
Its dejavu all over again as our friend #6 finds himself prisoner in a surrealistic village. Has he been here before? Read more

Published on August 4, 2002 by sven-ake

5.0 out of 5 stars well written first prisoner novel
classic prisoner novel by the sf genius tom disch

Published on July 9, 2002

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