The Man with a Thousand Names (1974)

A complete mess. A short 160 page novel that takes a few hours to read and yet I found myself unable to finish it as it was so poorly written. Nothing is explained. The reader is just thrown into situations that might make sense to the author but are given little definition to rationalize it to the reader. New plot devices are haplessly inserted in without care. Characters are flat, dull and completely unrealistic. The main character who finds himself swapping bodies with someone else for no reason he understands doesn't come across as too suprised or interested in what is happening to him but rather is more concerned with what kind of girls he could get and throwing parties. Now granted, the book was meant to highlight the characters rich, spoiled, self centered attitude, but it comes across as far too over the top and cartoonish.
If it didn't have the A.E. Van Vogt name attached to it I wonder if it would even have got published. Maybe there's a good story here, I don't know. If an editor had been doing his job and going over the text and working with the author perhaps something good could have come out of it. As it stands it's barely readable. ( )