Rogue in Space – Frederic Brown
Derived from the union of two short stories written in the forties, the novel narrates the exploits of a hero different from those in vogue at the time.
Craig is the product of a series of unfortunate events that led him to become a ruthless criminal and to hate all women. His hatred stems from the abandonment by his wife after an accident that cost him a hand and his work, his fierceness by the need to survive in a brutal society.
Two hundred years in the future, humanity has colonized much of the solar system, but corruption and decadence reign, a democratic facade hides ruthless power struggles. In this universe, Craig is an unscrupulous man, always balanced on the razor’s edge of life, until he is arrested for drug possession, someone set him up and now he awaits death or a brainwash.
Unexpected help comes from Judge Oliver, who offers to help him in exchange for a job that’s not completely legal. With no way out, Craig accepts. Finally sentenced to be brainwashed, Craig is not “cleaned” of his past. The beautiful wife of Oliver, Judeth, only pretends to perform the surgery, and leaves Craig’s mind intact. Once a free man, he pays his debt with Judge Oliver stealing a disintegrator device heavily guarded in Menlo, the Martian fortress of Eisen, a brilliant and eccentric scientist. A difficult task that Craig carries out with ease, the device is able to reduce the matter to the state of neutronium, but the process is extremely slow, which apparently makes the device of no real practical use.
However, Oliver thinks he can use the disintegrator and reveals that he wants to experiment it on a small asteroid.
The book’s credibility is not enhanced by Brown’s often-poor grasp of science, and it is a sci-fi novel of the 50s that presents the future as the fifties society with rockets, space travels, and planet colonization. Besides these limitations, it is well written and it flows easily, but its merit lies more on the fact that it presents one of the first anti-heroes of science fiction, if not the very first one. Craig is a figure that emerges with power, anger smoldering devours him and makes him intolerant and hostile toward all rules and the company of others, with a few exceptions. His hatred of women and their company is absolute. Oliver is a cunning politician, respectable in appearance, but actually power-hungry and willing to do anything to get it. The world where the characters evolve is corrupt and rotten, money is the only yardstick and allows to get everything and open all doors … and unfortunately this sounds even too familiar in our society.
A passable read.
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