Lies, Inc.: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: eye eater, curly haired youth, counter weapon, Lies Incorporated, Theodoric Ferry, Hank Szantho (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dick was...one of the genuine visionaries that North American fiction has produced in this century." --LA Weekly

"If there's such a thing as 'black science fiction,' Philip K. Dick is its Pirandello, its Beckett and its Pinter." --Harlan Ellison -- Review

Review

"Dick was...one of the genuine visionaries that North American fiction has produced in this century." --LA Weekly

"If there's such a thing as 'black science fiction,' Philip K. Dick is its Pirandello, its Beckett and its Pinter." --Harlan Ellison

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 4th Ed Thus edition (March 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400030080
• ISBN-13: 978-1400030088
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #569,354 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #75 in

  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( D ) > Dick, Philip K.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bye objective reality, June 5, 2004

By	Doug Mackey (Fairfield, IA USA) - See all my reviews

The first half of this novel was originally published in book form in 1966 under the title The Unteleported Man. Dick expanded the novel, and its presently published form as Lies, Inc. (2004 edition), represents his intentions for its final form. The first half was a fairly routine political intrigue set in a world where much of Earth's population is emigrating via teleportation to a distant planet. The second half has only a tenuous relationship to what proceeded it and is the most bizarre piece of writing that Dick ever produced. It is an account of what happens to the main character when he gets hit by an LSD dart: he experiences a series of psychedelic "paraworlds," or different classes of hallucinated realities experienced in altered states of consciousness. This second half spins so far out of both the author's and the reader's control that the sense of objective reality dissolves altogether. We are immersed in total insanity. So it becomes a trip in a very real sense-but forget about any satisfaction from the artistic unity or structure. There isn't any.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A strong but baffling effort by Dick, April 20, 2004

By	Eric San Juan (Brick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Philip K. Dick's "Lies, Inc.," now published in its complete form for the first time after making the rounds as "The Unteleported Man," is a baffling book combining Dick's penchant for creating well-realized alternate timelines, his frequently expressed cynical views of a bleak future, and a foray into a delusional, drug-induced (?) world that will leave readers scratching their head for some time.

Like most of Dick's works, the back cover blurb barely scratches the surface of what we can expect. Sure, all of the facts are true enough, but as readers familiar with Dick know, all is not as it seems.

In fact, "all is not as it seems" is a major, all-consuming theme in Lies, Inc. It is the theme that drives the narrative forward, setting in motion a chain of events - some of them wholly unreal - that leads us to an unusual conclusion. And just as the main character questions the reality presented to him, when done reading the book, some readers may wonder just how much of what they read was as it appeared.

Roughly halfway to two-thirds of the way through Lies, Inc., the story takes an abrupt left turn, delving into a world of paranoia, drugs, hallucinations, alien creatures and alternate worlds. It is a perplexing turn, written in a hazy, meandering manner. And just as suddenly we are plunged back into the story as we left it, the narrative not missing a beat. The nature of the diversion - what it means to the narrative, what events were actually taking place and which were delusions, whether any of it really happened at all, and what the POINT was - is puzzling, because Dick provides us with no answers. Whether that is a strength or a weakness depends on your tolerance for having unanswered questions dangled before you.

By the end we circle back to the main narrative, nary a mention of the drug-induced diversion, and we finish the story. Baffling, but wholly satisfying as a read.

Taken as a whole, Dick has certainly given us better, but when Lies, Inc. shines, it does so brightly. It is a worthy read for any fan of his work, though newer readers might be inclined to start with a more accessible book, such as "The Man Who Japed" and "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating story - with a small quality problem, November 21, 2004

By	rofe - See all my reviews

i really don't want to give away too much in respect for all those who haven't read the book yet. just this: written between WWII and the german reunion in '89, the story confronts the reader with a very frightening and amazingly visionary view of a possible future world. i personally found it most fascinating, including its weird detour into psychedelic paraworlds.

the only negative aspect i feel i should mention here are the annoyingly numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes whenever dialogs or narrative is in german language - as a native speaker, i really got tired of stumbling over them, and i think it's a pity the editor - vintage books - didn't have a translator check the foreign language in the story for the sake of its overall quality and credibility ... given the fact that this is not the first edition of the story, and there is an existing german translation for cross-checking!

other than that, it's a great and very consuming book.