Many authors have explored the concept of the relationship police officers have with the shadier drug dealers, but none in a more straightforward and surprising manner than Philip K. Dick in his novel A Scanner Darkly. This book analyzes the possibility that maybe policemen are not only in league with drug dealers, but perhaps they are actually the dealers themselves.
The novel concerns Fred. Fred is the alias for a policeman who always wears a scramble suit when acting as himself. The scramble suit flashes billions of combinations of physical features very quickly, so the person appears as a blur from head to toe. Also, it masks the wearer's voice by disguising it with a computer voice. This is all to ensure that Fred's appearance and identity are kept highly confidential.
The novel also concerns Bob Arctor. Bob Arctor is the name of a drug dealer who sells and takes massive amounts of the drug Substance D. Substance D eventually splits the user's mind into two distinct, battling halves.
The novel concerns Fred. Fred is the alias for a policeman who always wears a scramble suit when acting as himself. The scramble suit flashes billions of combinations of physical features very quickly, so the person appears as a blur from head to toe. Also, it masks the wearer's voice by disguising it with a computer voice. This is all to ensure that Fred's appearance and identity are kept highly confidential.
The novel also concerns Bob Arctor. Bob Arctor is the name of a drug dealer who sells and takes massive amounts of the drug Substance D. Substance D eventually splits the user's mind into two distinct, battling halves.
Bob Arctor is also the alternate identity of Fred the policeman.
Fred's mission is to find out information on all the drug dealers he can and report it back to his boss. That means he needs to tell about all his friends, and, yes, even Bob Arctor.
A common book and movie idea is that policemen and the criminals they are supposed to punish are actually in cahoots, but this is one of the only stories where the policemen are actually the drug dealers. It provides a fresh take on the war on drugs and also provides a very suspenseful and intelligent read. When Dick dedicates the book in the afterword to all his friends and family members who died or were greatly diseased or disabled because of narcotics, it gives a personal reason for writing and, for some, reading the novel.
http://www.amazon.com/Scanner-Darkly-Philip-K-Dick/dp/1400096901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257978849&sr=1-1
Grade: 8.5
Fred's mission is to find out information on all the drug dealers he can and report it back to his boss. That means he needs to tell about all his friends, and, yes, even Bob Arctor.
A common book and movie idea is that policemen and the criminals they are supposed to punish are actually in cahoots, but this is one of the only stories where the policemen are actually the drug dealers. It provides a fresh take on the war on drugs and also provides a very suspenseful and intelligent read. When Dick dedicates the book in the afterword to all his friends and family members who died or were greatly diseased or disabled because of narcotics, it gives a personal reason for writing and, for some, reading the novel.
http://www.amazon.com/Scanner-Darkly-Philip-K-Dick/dp/1400096901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257978849&sr=1-1
Grade: 8.5
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