What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
► UNSOLVED: One specific book
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SciFi, read in the '80s. Man hunts down mind-control devices, which are crowns people wear. Revenge motive. He uses one crown to find and kill other owners.
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I remember a scene where he possessed a butler to drown the master.I remember him befriending a female crown-wearer and going on excursions together.
Any ideas?
It isn't A Plague of Pythons. But in looking into that I did find some great books about sci fi mind control!Still haven't found it yet.
Mind control crowns (small circlets) empowered the wearers to selectively leave their bodies while their conscious minds freely wandered the world, picking bodies to possess. Possessed people were rendered passengers in their own bodies, still cognizant, with full sensation, but no control, remembering the ordeals and suffering the consequences.
Mind controllers took precautions to safeguard their own bodies while they were "out". Some lived most of the time outside of their own bodies, which then atrophied. Others selectively used their crowns while maintaining double-lives.
The plot follows one man who was possessed to commit a crime, which motivated him to hunt down the one who controlled him. Once he had that crown, he began hunting down other crown owners, using his crown.
I remember some form of ID embedded in his forearm that he surgically extracted.
There was great civil distrust, but no public acknowledgement of the possessions. The majority of the public denied the existence of mind control. Only a few, elite people had the devices. Most of the crown wearers let their hair grow through the crowns, hiding them from public view.
Some people were so paranoid about being controlled that they induced constant pain, like wrapping barbed wire around their extremities, cutting themselves and ritually harming each other.
I appreciate any clues! I've been looking for this book for over 20 years!