Demolished Man, The by Alfred Bester

The Demolished Man, first published in 1953 is Bester’s first full length novel, one of two books that have placed him firmly in the SF hall of fame for all time greats. His second novel is Tiger Tiger. (AKA The Stars My destination in the UK } Bester wrote very few SF novels and certainly never really matched these two earliest ones. This novel is also notable historically, because it is the first novel ever to be awarded a Hugo, something like the SF equivalent of an Oscar.


Around the 1940s through to the 1960s, it was frequently speculated on that mankind’s next evolution would be the expansion of the mind into the realm of Extra Sensory Perception, or ESP as it became known. Many people discussed the nature of this development speculating on telepathy, telekinesis, precognition and other ‘wild talents’.
Speculation of this nature encouraged writers like Alfred Bester, Theodore Sturgeon, Philip K. Dick and many of their contemporaries to write stories around a future world that accepted and officially recognised ‘espers’ who were no longer relegated to the realm of the crackpot, but have been researched scientifically, measured and documented and so in these future times have become a normal part of society.
In Demolished Man, the society conceived by Bester is based on the assumption that this has happened and by the 24th century when the novel is set, there are Licensed telepaths or 'espers' who can be hired to provide services from finding a lost dog, through screening job applicants in the personnel department of a company, to solving serious crimes.
This last aspect of 24th century society is especially important because almost any crime can be solved by hiring an esper who ‘peeps’ the accused. If they are guilty a good esper will immediately see this.

Because of this, murder has become a thing of the past and private guns are obsolete. Life goes on as usual for most people but any threatened violence is swiftly uncovered and prevented so normal people are able to lead happy productive lives in their safe society.
Into this background, enter Ben Reich; a successful business tycoon who has been recently losing trade to another competitive company, the D’Courtney Cartel.
Despite various attempts by Reich to combat this aggressive competitor, the other company continues to take business away from him. Amongst these attempts to save his own company Reich offers a merger to D’Courtney himself, but to his increasing frustration is refused point blank,.

He realises quite early on in the story that his only solution is to murder D’Courtney. The trick is how to do this in a telepathic society and get a way with it. Reich comes up with a seemingly foolproof scheme.

As in Bester’s second novel, The Stars My destination, the world Bester has created is detailed with vibrant and intriguing possibilities and with vivid characters. The main character Reich, like Gully Foyle in Tiger Tiger, is not a good man but like any good detective story his actions must be followed to see if he can get away with his scheme and to find out how he can commit such a crime in a telepathic society where the police department can see any persons’s innermost thoughts.