Alfred Bester
The Demolished Man (1953)
Winner of the 1953 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Reviewed: 1996-07-24

Ben Reich is surrounded by telepaths. Called "espers" or "peepers", organized in the Guild, prized in many white-collar job positions, they are virtually everywhere. In fact, Reich's success as head of Monarch Utilities & Resources and thus as one of the richest men in the world is founded on the company peepers. As a side effect of the espers' near omnipresence, there hasn't been a premeditated murder in the world for more than 70 years. Although peeper testimony isn't admissible in court, the telepaths would always use their talent to find irrefutable physical evidence. So when Reich decides to actually murder his most formidable competitor, he must devise and execute the perfect crime.

Of course, no crime will ever turn out perfect. What ensues is a battle of wits between Police Prefect Lincoln Powell, top class esper, and Reich, involving varied scheming on several levels, feinting and counter-feinting, rogue telepaths, scientists, and a hunt for the single witness of the killing, the victim's daughter. While the eventual conclusion of the case is hinted at from early on and thus comes as no surprise, the motive of the murder remains mysterious until the very end of the book.

The Demolished Man received the very first Hugo Award and is still famed as a classic of the genre. Alas, all that remains today is a SF mystery thoroughly mediocre in writing, characterization, plot, and inventiveness. The basic premise of a world with a large number of telepaths is modestly intriguing but Bester does very little with it apart from the very obvious. One would expect the espers to fundamentally alter society, however, little seems to have changed during the 300 years that separate our familiar 20th century from the time of the novel.

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