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Book Review By Harriet Klausner
Lies, Inc. (The Unteleported Man) by Philip K. Dick



Vintage, Mar 2004, 12.00, 202 pp.
ISBN: 1400030080

To control the aggressiveness of citizens living on top of one another in crowded file cabinets like anthills in overpopulated urban regions, Lies Incorporated uses computer software to keep people sublimely quiet. A metropolis is simply an industrial work zone with contented “prisoners”. The only escape from this drab existence is through the services of Trails of Hoffman, Inc. which can teleport a person to the paradise colony planet Whale's Mouth, but this is a one way ticket.

The Lies Incorporated SubInfo computers perform an unnatural act for them by transmitting a ton of data on the Oakland, California rat population to Rachmael ben Applebaum, who knows something is not right. Rachmael begins questioning “truths” now that he sublimely has become the rat expert. He wonders about the Utopian alternative and soon has evidence that the happy crowds are a sham, a galaxy con game. He plans to become THE UNTELEPORTED MAN and illegally take a spaceship to the planet to ask who wants to come home.

This futuristic dark vision that is mindful in many ways of 1984 is actually a rewriting of Philip K. Dick's 1960s novella. THE UNTELEPORTED MAN. The deceased author paints a future with little hope except for the utopian colony that proves to be even more dismal than the hopelessness on earth. The vivid descriptions such as bits of a cheeseburger not a whole cheeseburger provides quite a landscape. Rachmael is a terrific champion while the intergalactic con game is brilliantly done. Fans of exciting but bleak science fiction thrillers know that Philip K. Dick has been one of the greats and that is no lie or computer generated “truth”.

Harriet Klausner


Plot & Themes
Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because:
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10 %
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40 %
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10 %

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - a teen

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
Earth setting: - medium future 22-24th century
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a futuristic society
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - significantly more dialog than descript
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