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The Zap Gun by Philip K. Dick
01/12/2006 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: Gollancz. 252 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07672-0. Buy The Zap Gun in the USA - or Buy The Zap Gun in the UK  check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Lars Powderdry is a designer of weapons. He has precognition powers and assisted by drugs he goes into trances. Lars sketches out rough designs which are made up by the teams based in Wes-bloc. The catch is that a detailed deception makes the public think that there are super-weapons to protect their country. In fact, there are no weapons. All the designs are converted into elaborate toys and gadgets and sold to amuse the public. When a real threat arises the Earth has no defence. Faced with alien satellites taking position over all the major countries the Earth is powerless.
This is a bizarre book which is initially difficult to get into. It was hard to see where it was going. There is much use of a 'pop' vocabulary which eventually grows on you as a reader but is almost like reading a foreign language. Written at the height of the Cold War, this is an interesting commentary on the anxieties of the times. The lack of trust between countries is a key part in the narrative and is ever topical. As part of the complete body of Philip Dick's work, it fits in with 'Eye In The Sky' but has much less in the way of SF devices. Mostly the narrative works with our acceptance of the psi talents and future possibilities.
In many ways, the novel is remarkably prescient of aspects of modern life; the nature of democracy and the growth in leisure pursuits. It of course is completely wide of the mark when it comes to the real nature of technology and its complete absorption into our lives.
I enjoyed reading it but didn't love it in the way that I admire some of Dick's other books. I found the main character self-absorbed and because of the 'pop' speak, the book feels more dated. The cover notes from other reviewers made me think I had been reading a different book.
This is one of those books that makes me feel Dick resented he was published in a niche. Various elements of the book, such as the threat by alien satellites feel like they should be either embraced wholeheartedly or rejected. I would recommend it but you need to be persistent, the end is curiously more satisfying than I would have expected.
Sue Davies
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