The Deceivers (Bester novel)
The Deceivers is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester. It was first published in 1981 by Wallaby Books/Simon & Schuster.
 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Alfred Bester |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Michael Whelan |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | Oct. 1981 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 272 |
| ISBN | 0-671-43432-2 |
| OCLC | 8589190 |
Synopsis
Rogue Winter has superhuman powers of pattern recognition, which he uses to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend and save the solar system.
Reception
The Deceivers received little attention from critics; The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction later posited that this was the result of a desire to spare Bester's feelings, as the novel "is not good."[1] Science fiction scholar Jad Smith has described it as a "busy, overwritten pastiche" of Bester's 1956 The Stars My Destination.[2] David Langford called it "mildly good fun" and praised Bester's "colourful imagination and general wildness", but declared it substandard for Bester (while still superior to his other then-recent work), describing its characters as "dilettantes" who "never reach (the) sheer peaks of obsessiveness that powered (Bester's) early novels", and noting in particular the presence of "a narrator who removes all possible suspense" by telling readers the ending in advance.[3]
References
- Alfred Bester, by Peter Nicholls; earliest version published October 13, 2011; retrieved May 23, 2019
- Alfred Bester, by Jad Smith, published December 1 2016 by University of Illinois Press
- "Zapping Uri Geller, by David Langford; originally published in White Dwarf, July 1983; archived in Complete Critical Assembly: The Collected White Dwarf (And Gm, and Gmi) Sf Review Columns, published October 1, 2002, by Wildside Press
External links
- The Deceivers title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database