The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner (book review).
Nickie Haflinger is a non-person. He escaped from the Tarnover with the knowledge to adopt different identities. We’re at a point when he’s been captured and, under medication, is revealing his various identities while he was on the run.
This book is divided into three parts and focusses on unravelling some of his aliases. The middle part specifically features Sandy Locke with Kate Lilleberg, who is also now held captive. I’m still trying to work out just what they were doing, especially as the third part focuses on revolution.
It’s a bit challenging to define the story beyond that. In many ways, it seems as though Brunner had his own framework, improvised parts of it while writing, and frequently struggled to understand the plot until the very end. He derived a lot of his material with approval from Alvin Toffler’s book, ‘Future Shock,’ which I read a long time ago.
This reminded me a little of Roger Zelazny’s ‘My Name Is Legion’, except it’s not legal. This is also the first time I’ve read any of John Brunner’s books, and he mentions two book titles: “Helen O’Loy,” a Lester Del Rey short story, and “Drunkard’s Walk,” by Frederick Pohl. Brunner also lived in North Somerset and mentions ‘Crediton Hill,’ which is also a place I recognised. It does look like he liked dropping easter eggs.
I’m not entirely sure I would recommend this book as a starting point for any of Brunner’s four novels. He explores the frontiers of cyberpunk before its inception, but the state of computers in those days was significantly different.
GF Willmetts
January 2025
(pub: Del Rey/Ballantine, 1975. 280 page enlarged paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 0-345-46717-5).