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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Some violence connected to police enforcement and black-market activity
Language
Some
Moderate profanity appropriate to the noir-adjacent thriller register
Sexual Content
Some
Sexual encounters depicted with moderate explicitness in adult literary fiction style
Substance Use
A lot
Drug use is prominent and integral to plot — psychedelic substances and stimulants used regularly by characters
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Identity dissolution, paranoia, and existential dread are the central experience of the novel
What this book is about
Jason Taverner is a famous TV star and singer who wakes one morning to find that all records of his existence have vanished. He navigates a near-future police state scrambling to survive without an identity. Philip K. Dick uses the premise to explore questions of reality, personal identity, and the surveillance apparatus of authoritarian government. Drug use is central to several characters' experiences, and the novel builds to a deeply sad and strange conclusion. One of Dick's most personal and resonant works.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Drug use central to plot
Surveillance state themes
Identity loss and paranoia
Reader Verification
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