The Walkaway Clause

Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Masterpiece of Insight
Review: The Walkaway Clause (Tor Books) by John Dalmas is a unique and remarkable
masterpiece, which I cannot recommend highly enough to readers. I first read it many years ago and my appreciation for this work and for John's works in general has grown and deepened.

This is a remarkable and very insightful work, which has a number of levels of meaning which make this a very rewarding read. It has an engrossing plot, the main character, Barny Boru, is a interesting and very human figure, he is a contract eliminator for a future company, in a time when corporate business is carried out in an interstellar environment which contains worlds which are both in constant contact and some which are kept isolated due to their state of development, similar in many ways to our modern environment, with third world countries which should be protected from exploitation.

The main character goes to one of these worlds, Lokar, which is under an interdict, to eliminate a king who is supposedly interfering with the business of the company that hires his services. He discovers in truth that this king is a remarkable and very effective ruler who is not at all as he was described. So he is able to consider implementing the "walkaway clause" which is a provision that allows the "eliminator" to decide NOT to carry out the contract to which he has been assigned. Indeed the King in question is a central figure in a remarkable social experiment in advancing personal "sanity" and social effectiveness being led by an enigmatic and intriguing expert from off planet, and this social evolution become one of the most interesting elements of the book. There is a parallel plot line concerning zen and the philosophy of the main character, and so this is not only a engrossing story with stimulating human events, but also underlying and through provoking material on life and reality philosophy.

I won't ruin the plot for readers, but can say that the way that the people and the scenes are "painted" in this book is remarkable, and unique in quality and depth. The evocation of the "northern" Scandinavian type culture of the Lokar people, the plot twists with a quality similar to the fine writing of Anthony Hope and the Prisoner of Zenda allow some fine writing and story telling by Mr. Dalmas, and the very human quandaries and challenges of the characters keep the story fresh and alive throughout. Mr. Dalmas is a master story teller, and author, he describes the environment and the scenes with an artists eye, the weather, the people and their characters, the actions are all carried out in a way that is more real than real, raising the nature of this story to heights seldom achieved in print, making this truly fine literature. It turns out, from reading a bio of Mr. Dalmas on his own web site, that he had had a remarkable life of many varied experiences himself, and thus is able to bring to his writing the personal range of experiences which colors his writing so ably.

I found the plot development intriguing and the way that the main character undergoes changes in his own view of the world in which he lives not only believable, but very thought provoking for one's own view of reality, for there are many parallels with the story and our own time, with our similar challenges with mass society, elitist corporate ways and means of carrying out their policies which often have nothing at all to do with the good of our society, and also the motif which Mr. Dalmas continues in other works, of a "active philosophy" of life change and insight that is developed in an individual by some form of mind and character development is very ably integrated in this story.

I have gone on to read much of Mr. Dalmas's other works, but am moved to write this review for a fine work, indeed a masterpiece of literature and encourage any and all to read it not once, but many times.

There is some quite intangible quality to this work that is timeless and which rises above ordinary exposition and writing, it reaches beneath daily denial and ordinary life approaches to thinking and to reality, and speaks to a portion of our soul that seeks hope and clarity. I have found myself returning to Mr. Dalmas's books and specifically the Walkaway Clause in my own life in times of challenge, not for escape, but for elucidation and the cross patterning insight that comes sometimes subconsciously from reading stories that resonate with our own consciousness and aspirations.

And finally, let me once again praise the way that John evokes the scenes and the people he writes about. Mr. Dalmas is not only an author of fiction, but also an accomplished expert in silviculture and ecology, and joins other such accomplished authors as the late Charles Sheffield and others who not only write as master authors in the fictional realm, but are also masters of science and vision in life. We are indeed fortunate that John chose to add writing to his other achievements, and I am hopeful that he will continue to author works such as the Walkaway Clause.

Christopher Gerlach