Thomcat
3/26/2023
The first half is more idea driven than plot driven; characters can be hard to follow in the first section especially. Once you realize this is government investigation into the life of a captured traitor (serious "The Prisoner" vibes), the characters start driving the story. By the end (and now in real time), the plot has taken off. In other words, a really good novel if you stick with it!
Released in 1975, John Brunner's story is way ahead of it's time. Samples include the internet, hackers and self replicating network worms, a "plug-in" lifestyle, computers prevalent in homes (and manipulated by the government), and a thin-skinned president using the army to make war on his domestic opponents.
This is the last of a quartet of Brunner books connected to future looking non-fiction of his time. In this case, it's Toffler's Future Shock, which I read decades ago but mostly forget. I've recently read Stand on Zanzibar, which is connected to Erlich's overpopulation thesis, and need to read The Sheep Look Up, which is connected to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. I really like forward looking science fiction stories; the examination of future predictions is some of the most interesting reading for me.