Read: Brain Twister, Randall Garrett & Laurence M Janifer

Originally published under the name Mark Phillips (the two authors’ middle names), and under the title ‘That Sweet Little Old Lady’ in Analog in 1959, and despite being a novella managed to be nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. It lost to Heinlein’s Starship Trooper and much as I hate that book it was a better winner than Brain Twister would have been. (It was published in book format under the new title in 1962.) Kenneth Malone is a FBI agent, and has been tasked with discovering the identity of the telepathic spy at the secret Yucca Flats research facility, where the US is developing a new spaceship drive. The story is set in the 1970s, although everyone still wears hats, and the only piece of invented everyday tech mentioned is a videophone. JFK is also referred to as the “youngest living ex-president”, which was weird. Malone surmises that any telepath is likely to be insane, and so scours asylums and sanatoriums across the US, eventually finding Miss Thompson, who seems perfectly lucid, other than insisting she is immortal and Queen Elizabeth I. She agrees to help the FBI identify the spy, which results in a car journey across the country, with a stopover in Las Vegas. Malone, fellow FBI agent Boyd, nurse Barbara and Miss Thompson all wear Elizabethan dress during the trip. For reasons. Malone eventually figures out who the spy is - Miss Thompson knew who it was all along, of course. It’s hard to describe quite how bad this novel is. It’s meant to be comic but is not in the least bit funny. The world-building is non-existent - it might as well have been set in 1959. And the final reveal depends on two clues dropped earlier in the narrative that weren’t, well, clues at all. Avoid at all costs. ( )

Fun romp with telepaths spying during the 60's. ( )

There are three 1960s SF books writen by Mark Phillips. The real authors are Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer.

Randall Garrett was one of the many successful SF pulp magazine short story writers. He had stories in over a dozen different SF publications in the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote several solo novels and a few with Laurence M. Janifer.

Laurence M. Janifer was a SF pulp magazine writer. He also went on to write solo novels but most of them were not Science Fiction.

The authors three SF books have the same protagonist and are called "That Sweet Little Old Lady", "Super Mind" and "The Impossibles". These are future FBI agent novels involving criminals with extra powers. Casual afternoon reads. Nothing notable.

I found this one to be fun but very dated and a little too goofy. Somehow it won a HUGO. It was originally titled "Brain Twister". Maybe I just was not in the mood for a tongue in cheek detective novel. ( )

From Project Gutenberg. Pretty good for its age. ( )

Brain Twister by Gordon Randall Garrett
February 18th, 2008

Synopsis: Malone, an extremely lucky FBI agent, works to unearth a telepathic spy. The FBI director makes this mission top priority to the security of the nation, authorizing Malone to use any means necessary. Malone takes an unusual entourage, including telepaths from sanatoriums across the nation, to a casino in Las Vegas and finally a secret facility in Yucca Flats.

Sounds like a good story, right?

That’s what I thought. But I found myself skipping sections of the book because the author would go on and on describing things that weren’t particularly interesting or relevant to the story. He kept hitting me over the head with the details. I mean, I get it already. The girl’s beautiful. Malone’s nuts about her. Can we get on with the plot already?

The best I can say about this book is that its not the worst one I’ve ever read. Several of the characters were interesting. The telepathic immortal Queen Elizabeth I provided the most enjoyable parts of the book. Overall I thought he overdid everything. Some of the silly situations were funny, but his writing was just too irksome. Even the Queen, my favorite character, became a little repetative and boring after awhile. I found it difficult to read past the middle of the book. Luckily I had recently listened to an audiobook version of “On Writing” by Stephen King. This allowed me to exploit the the author’s errors to the best of my ability. It perfectly illustrated so many points about bad writing style.

This is the first novel I’ve ever read by this author, so perhaps his style improves in his later work. His interesting premise failed to carry me past his actual writing. Unless you are a budding author in search of an example of what not to do, I would not recommend wasting your time with this book.

This review originally published at my website on 2/18/08 @
http://www.therussellfamily.org/~cathy/?p=39