Something of a Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, John Brunner is one of the more intriguing though lesser
recognized figures in science fiction history.
Much the same as Robert Silverberg, he cut a path for himself in genre
writing what is essentially pulp sci-fi but later began introducing novels of
significantly greater depth to his oeuvre.
Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, and The Jagged Orbit are some of the most
important novels the field has produced.
Drastically elevating the form above common genre trappings, a fourth
novel is generally added to this list of socially and politically motivated works
from Brunner: 1975’s The Shockwave Rider. Though technically a forerunner to the
plethora of cyberpunk texts that would emerge soon thereafter, the novel, in
fact, bears more in common with the socially conscious, atypically structured,
politicized novels of the New Wave.
Regardless of taxonomy, it remains a prescient look at the power of
information control and the fragmentation of society and identity.
The Shockwave Rider is the story of Nickie
Haflinger. Raised at a hidden government
school at a cost of three million tax payer dollars per year, the secrets of
the system he slowly learns are enough to turn him off, and eventually away. Escaping into the world as a young adult, he
uses near autistic savant capabilities to re-program the network to assume a
new identity each time he is discovered by the government. By turns a televangelist and rich playboy
(among other professions), he lives aimlessly, and only to avoid detection as
he tries to sort out his own place in the world. But called out by the daughter of a major
corporate CEO, the façade he’s created for himself slowly begins to peel away. Trouble is, exposing himself leads government
searches all the closer.
