Louis Charbonneau (1924–2017)

In the year 2240, Earth is ruled by the dictatorial Population Control Corps, which keeps the world in a state of constant famine. Petr Clayborne's father, Jack Clayborne, was a senior figure in the Underground, the only political opposition, but was executed when Petr was a child. Petr has no interest in following in his father's footsteps.

Petr is in PCC custody, and is being interrogated, with pharmaceutical help. Members of the Underground are given a false tooth with a liquid memory show more obliterator, instead of cyanide, if they are caught. Petr has used his fake tooth, and the PCC has supposedly developed a drug to reverse the obliterator. Captain Hartung of the PCC, a romantic rival for the affection of Petr's wife, Alda, is convinced that Petr knows the location and destination of a secret submarine which is about to slip out of the PCC's surveillance.

During the drug injections, Petr relives his life. Alda's father, who may or may not be a senior figure in the Underground, does not approve of their relationship, because of Petr's unwillingness to join the Underground. Alda and Petr are married in a bureaucratic process which bears a strong resemblance to spending a day at the DMV. They decide to have a child before they are authorized to do so, something which is very illegal. Petr eventually finds the Underground, which agrees to help them escape in the above-mentioned submarine. But, at every pickup point in New York City, the PCC is waiting. The only possible explanation is that there is a "mole" in the Underground. Does Petr reveal the sub's location to Captain Hartung? Do Alda and Petr escape via the Underground? What does the Underground know that could destroy the PCC's hold on power?

This one is pretty good. It is very "1984"-ish in that a loyal citizen slowly turns into an enemy of the state. It's a pretty "quiet" story in that there is very little violence until the end. For those who like reading dystopia stories, this is well worth reading. show less

I don't normally leave reviews after reading a book, but after reading Down to Earth, I really needed a good rant. This book actually has an interesting premise, but is plagued by poor writing, and completely asinine plotting. The story describes a small family living in an isolated space station that is only used for emergency landings. Seeing that the family is so isolated, the space station is equipped with holograms that display a virtual world at all times. This allows a psychopath to show more enter the station undetected, and allows him to hide among the holograms, as he attempts to kidnap one member of the family, and kill the others.

Now for my rant...

The first thought that comes to mind would be to simply shut off the holograms, but the station was designed to prohibit that. I found that hard to believe, but could ignore in order to allow for a good story. However, the entire plot seemed implausible and was setup only to create action. For example, the station is equipped with a chair that is extended on a column of air, allowing the person in the chair to view a series of video screens located in the top of a tower. This allowed the psychopath to shut off the air column in an attempt to kill the character in the chair at that time. Why on earth would you locate the video screens in the top of the tower? If they're just showing videos, just stick them on the ground floor. Also, I didn't believe the explanation that a column of air would be safer than something actually connected to the chair. Later on in the book, after the family realizes that there is a killer onboard, the father attempts to fight him with a variety of weapons, including a flamethrower. Why on earth would an emergency space station need that much firepower? And a flamethrower of all things?

The author could also have benefited from a elementary physics lesson. He actually writes that the planet has less gravity due to having less atmosphere. Also, the planet is covered by strong duststorms, yet one of the characters was able to see stars while outside during a storm. This was during the day nonetheless! show less

I don't normally leave reviews after reading a book, but after reading Down to Earth, I really needed a good rant. This book actually has an interesting premise, but is plagued by poor writing, and completely asinine plotting. The story describes a small family living in an isolated space station that is only used for emergency landings. Seeing that the family is so isolated, the space station is equipped with holograms that display a virtual world at all times. This allows a psychopath to show more enter the station undetected, and allows him to hide among the holograms, as he attempts to kidnap one member of the family, and kill the others.

Now for my rant...

The first thought that comes to mind would be to simply shut off the holograms, but the station was designed to prohibit that. I found that hard to believe, but could ignore in order to allow for a good story. However, the entire plot seemed implausible and was setup only to create action. For example, the station is equipped with a chair that is extended on a column of air, allowing the person in the chair to view a series of video screens located in the top of a tower. This allowed the psychopath to shut off the air column in an attempt to kill the character in the chair at that time. Why on earth would you locate the video screens in the top of the tower? If they're just showing videos, just stick them on the ground floor. Also, I didn't believe the explanation that a column of air would be safer than something actually connected to the chair. Later on in the book, after the family realizes that there is a killer onboard, the father attempts to fight him with a variety of weapons, including a flamethrower. Why on earth would an emergency space station need that much firepower? And a flamethrower of all things?

The author could also have benefited from a elementary physics lesson. He actually writes that the planet has less gravity due to having less atmosphere. Also, the planet is covered by strong duststorms, yet one of the characters was able to see stars while outside during a storm. This was during the day nonetheless! show less

As w/ most dystopic SF, mix a sensational technological development w/ social-control politics & predict what might happen - as a warning to the society in wch the development is taking place. In this case. perhaps CIA experiments w/ LSD for mind-control purposes (if the author was even aware of them in 1964 when this was probably written) w/ the usual intention of power conglomerates to CONTROL, CONTROL, CONTROL & out comes this possible (near) future (now the present or the past).

It wd be show more interesting to take all past prophesizing novels & combine their text w/ footage from the times they prophesize about for the sake of juxtaposition & framing. This 'futuristic' bk begins in 1976. A general public living for drugged vacations? That certainly wdn't be hard to find. It's the "super-intellects" of the ruling elites that I'd question here. show less