”spaced out!” say the characters a lot, and unfortunately so is the book.
Probably an accurate depiction of a drugged up/”high” addict's perception of the world... too well simulated to be comprehensible or enjoyable for a ”straight” like me.
The undercover part is better described and touches some well-thought issues most writers would miss (for example the agent has to also denounce himself constantly), but is not developed as much as I hoped. So is the philosophy (”Who am I, actually?”) - good but not developed at its full potential.
The fact that I had seen the film and already knew the ending and twist did not help at all, either. By the way, I enjoyed the film way more and recommend it. ( )

I have a copy of this on my phone and I've been reading it occasionally. It's hard to get into, but maybe that's just because I'm reading it on a fucking phone.

Actually didn't finish it since I couldn't get into the story or characters. I had hoped it would be similar to "Limitless" due to substance D, but it was far from it and the narrative was too choppy for me. ( )

PKD books are weird, but this is weirder than most. ( )

.Dick is a terrible writer. I would have given this book one star if I hadn’t found out it’s based on his real life experience as an addict (his afterword should be a foreword). Knowing that this is all real experiences of druggies makes the book a bit more interesting. Nonetheless, as the main character points out, who wants to listen to the drivel of these people droning on about nothing? And that’s mostly what Dick serves up, which makes the book mostly boring, not moving. The ultimate druggy paranoid ending serves the basis of making the movie interesting. In general, these small freaky gems found in his books, were taken by directors and turned into interesting movies which give Dick an undeserved reputation as a visionary. ( )