A Scanner Darkly

Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly wears the guise of sci-fi noir, kicking off with a troubled lawman trying to do the right thing in a force from the future. But the plot (like the protagonist himself) quickly disintegrates into something entirely different. You expect laser battles and apocalyptic destruction, but the story is far more grounded–and heartbreaking. Dick was writing a story about addiction, the force that took many of his good friends in real life. Someone is always spaced out during this story, and the protagonist’s brain becomes so decayed that the author ends up referring to him as an “it.” There are glimmers of hope at the end, but no heroism. Beneath all the scanner suits and split personalities, A Scanner Darkly is a tribute to the dead and an inescapable warning for the living. Thankfully, this message comes wrapped up in a well-written story guided by an endlessly creative brain. You’ll not only learn something from this book, but enjoy the lesson.