THE VIOLENT MAN

by A.A. Van Vogt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 1962

The well known science fiction writer was written a rather talky novel, based on an idea. Seal Ruxton, the Violent Man, is one of a group of multinational prisoners who have been spirited away into Red China to become part of a special experiment, directed by fierce, dictatorial Mai Lin Yin. Supposedly the group is to be converted to Communism, and the men wrestle with their consciences but are disturbed by Mai's apparently senseless executions. Ruxton, who is soon involved with Mrs. Mai and their Japanese servant, is not taken in by the Party line but does begin to examine his past. A man of murderous rages and a philanderer who has destroyed his marriage, he begins to see his own psychological pattern as a basis for all dictatorial terrorist types. These ""right men"", who cannot bear to be wrong, will use any ideology that will serve to make them right, and can be controlled only through their women. Ruxton has also discovered that the Plan is actually designed to destroy all white men (the Chinese are as racist as Hitler) and finally, using his knowledge of Mai's psychology, he escapes with the survivors...The ideas are interesting but somewhat private and they tend to overwhelm the story. Ruxton emerges as a superman and the other characters exist for their differing viewpoints, and, in spite of some action, the book is rather obscure.

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1962

Categories: FICTION