A review by fireblend
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

5.0

What I expected: a proto-cyberpunk crime thriller in a futuristic world featuring clever mind-reading tricks, constant second guessing and a battle of wits between a genius assassin and a world hunting him.

What I got: a comedy of errors led by the world's biggest disaster of a man, constantly failing his way out of trouble. Ben Reich has to be up there with the most successfully incompetent people I've had the pleasure of following in a story.

This was a pleasure to read, breezy and full of cool ideas and ridiculous plans going sideways.