Mindplayers

Author: Pat Cadigan

Allie Haas likes to get high. Her dealer likes to get her high. One day he convinces her to try a new, stolen madcap' - very illegal. The experience nearly kills her, and as an extra kick in the teeth gets her criminalised. She is offered the chance - loathsome as it may be - to become a Mindplayer instead of going to prison... What follows would probably make a good initial screenplay for a series along the lines of - say - Fringe. Allie's life takes us on a journey - in episodes, by way of her patients - from addiction to a form of sanity. Allie grows from a two-dimensional non-person into someone with real depth, and she has a way of echoing round your head after you've put the book down. Pat Cadigan explores a whole host of mental conditions, and her look at the inside landscape of the mind is enthralling. Mesmerising. This was a formidable first novel, which came after a bunch of equally edgy and well-formed short stories.