For those of you who've read Scott Bakker's previous work (The Prince Of Nothing trilogy), Neuropath will come as a shock, as it's a substantial change of pace from epic fantasy. This is a taut and nerve wracking psychological thriller that is not only spine chilling, but also intellectually challenging. Is it really possible that we don't have any control over anything our brain does? That everything we do and say is merely the mental equivalent of an electronic pulse produced by a spool of copper wire conducting energy generated by random flashes of lightening?

What's especially unnerving is that the technology being utilized by Neil to carry out his experiments doesn't even seem very speculative, and there's no reason to believe that some government agency somewhere isn't carrying out these same experiments even now. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't put it past most security services in the world to try and do some of things Neil described doing while he worked for the NSA. (In an author's note, Scott Bakker points out that there is now technology available that allows doctors to predict a patient's choices before they are conscious of making them).

Neuropath is not set in the future, nor on some other planet where another race has access to advanced technology that allows it to control humanity. It's set right here, right now, in a world populated by people who are every bit as believable as you and me with pretty much the same technology that we have available to us. That's what makes it so frightening.

Those wishing to purchase a copy of Neruopath can do so by ordering it directly from Penguin Canada or Amazon.ca.