Bad Dream

Rating:
Summary: Subtle, horrifying look at near future Virtual Reality
Review: Veteran British science fiction writer John Christopher tells a subtle, lyrically poignant saga on the potential dangers of Virtual Reality in his latest novel "Bad Dream". In its understated way, it shares much of the same themes echoed in such classic cyberpunk fiction as William Gibson's "Neuromancer, without resorting to much of the rich detail found in Gibson's literary debut. Instead, it works as a tranquil psychological thriller about an unlikely hero, Michael Frodsham, a minor British government healthcare bureaucrat, dealing with a dangerous Virtual Reality technique designed by the German half of his family, and Great Britain's domination by a coercive, almost tyrannical, European Federation. Christopher's villains are intriguing, three-dimensional characters whose motivations are easily understood - if not appreciated - by the reader. This is yet another fine work of science fiction by the author of classics such as "No Blade of Grass" and the Tripods trilogy.