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Aug 03, 2019IndyPL_SteveB rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A provocative science fiction novel from a writer who never allows easy answers. Sawyer is exceptional at posing decision questions for which the right answer is never clear, even after his characters make their choices. Psychologist Jim Marchuk has developed a test for detecting which people are psychopaths. However, Marchuk discovers that he is missing 6 months from his memory, 6 months when it appears that he was temporarily and violently a psychopath himself. He and an old friend discover that there are brain states in which people can become psychopaths, and it appears possible to switch people between states. So here is the balancing point of the book: Under what circumstances could you change a psychotic to a fully-realized human? Under what circumstances SHOULD you? What if such a change might at the same time change others to psychotics? The plot and the balancing point is really much more complex than this, with many other characters involved, whose histories and possible futures will affect the science and morals of the central question. If you like to have your assumptions challenged and are curious about the human mind, this will be a book for you.