Book Review: Maze

Title: Maze

Author: Larry Collins

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Date: 1989

ISBN: 0-671-66547-2

Length: 432 pages

Quote: “They had worked with neurologists...employing radio waves that could be passed through an individual's brain, then read by remote means on the way out.”

(Review reclaimed from Blogjob)

Psychics have not had consistent success at remotely manipulating human emotional moods. In Maze, Larry Collins imagines what the world would be like if scientists had found a way to manipulate people's moods remotely by using electronic technology, more directly and efficiently than can be done with only the traditional means of television broadcasts.

In 1989 everyone was eager to see an end to the Cold War, but nobody quite believed that that end was at hand. The enemies are still Russians and the reader is expected to identify with a hypothetical future president of the United States. There's still a cast of glamorous, but not likable, people on both sides, and while the story is basically about the showdown between powerful nations, there's a vague sense that these people's loyalties, treacheries, and adulteries may have something to do with the outcome.

Offhand I'm not sure what. Collins' Americans aren't very admirable, nor are his Russians altogether loathsome; none of them makes much of an impression. If Collins intended to make a statement about human nature in Maze, it's probably the time-honored, “When people are trusted with a lot of money and power they're likely to act out the same sexual and violent urges that working-class men are supposed to like to watch in movies.” Although this message is deeply discouraging when we think about it, the President is apparently protected, so perhaps the intention here is to reassure an intended audience of boors and bores.

I wasn't thrilled by this book. On the other hand, I did stay awake, so I have to give Collins full marks for being able to engage the attention of a skeptical audience. In the absence of either the solid scientific theory that identifies really good science fiction, or the insight into human nature that identifies really good mainstream fiction, Maze is passable as either science fiction or mainstream fiction. If you're looking for a longish novel to pass the time on your daily commute, you could do worse.

Or better. There's nothing particularly uplifting in this novel. There's lots of immoral behavior, sex and violence, murder and treason. It's one of those novels where a large part of the suspense involves guessing which characters will be alive at the end, but you won't miss any of the ones who aren't.

Larry Collins no longer needs the dollar he'd get from an online sale of Maze if he were still alive. You can buy a copy of this book online from me at the usual minimum price, $5 per book + $5 per package, which means $15 if you want two copies, in order to help fund the Fair Trade Books project. Otherwise, I acquired a copy (actually it was left over after a charity sale and thrust upon me) locally, read it, and offered it for sale locally. Then I wrote a review of it that I considered not even posting until I was sure that Collins can no longer be discouraged, or encouraged, in any case. People, probably guys, who like reading books that old ladies don't like, may get some entertainment out of Maze. Good luck to them and let them have it.