Martian Time-Slip

Schizophrenia, autism, paranoia, real estate scams, power politics, adultery and infidelity, murder, racism, black market. Oh yeah, also a little bit of time travel/distortion.

If you are looking for an action type story with colonist fighting for survival is the hostile landscape of Mars, this is not it. In this story PKD dives deeply into the psyche and relationships of his characters. Mars takes a backseat as it has already been settled and the only true hardships are loneliness and water shortage. The story could have easily been set on Earth in the present day.

This story is largely based on the idea that schizophrenics view the world in a sort of time distortion. Arnie Kott, a small time political/mafia boss, wants to use a young schizophrenic and autistic boy, Manfred Steiner, to view the future and then go back to the past to change some things so he can make lots of money.

What follows is a rollicking good time as PKD carries us into the minds and relationships of the characters, including Arnie, Arnie's girlfriend Doreen, Manfred, a "recovering" adult schizophrenic appliance repairman named Jack Bohlen, and even Arnie's Bleekman (a martian native) servant.

I highly recommend this book!!