The Second Trip
by Robert Silverberg
Form: Novel
Year: 1971
ID: 980
Publication history:
- ????: LHomme Programm, Pocket Mass market paperback, in French
- 1972: The Second Trip, Doubleday Hard cover book, 192 pp.
- 1972: The Second Trip, Science Fiction Book Club Hard cover book
- 1973: The Second Trip, Signet Mass market paperback, 192 pp.
- 1980: The Second Trip, Pan Mass market paperback, ISBN 0330262270
- 1981: The Second Trip, Avon Mass market paperback, ISBN 0-380-54874-7, 192 pp.
- 1986: Der zweite Trip, Goldmann Mass market paperback, ISBN 3442232457, in German
- 1987: The Second Trip, Avon Mass market paperback, 192 pp.
- 1991: The Second Trip, Gollancz Mass market paperback, 185 pp.
- 1998: Edge of Light: The Robert Silverberg Omnibus, Voyager Mass market paperback, ISBN 0006480381, 800 pp.
- 1998: Voyage au bout de l'esprit, Omnibus Mass market paperback, ISBN 2258049202, 904 pp., in French as L'homme programm
- 2000: The Second Trip, Fictionwise Online
- 2005: The Second Trip, Mass market paperback
Blurb:
(from Signet 1973)
Was it a case of mistaken identity or demonic possession?
Hamlin, get out of my mind!
Whose mind?
You heard me! You forfeited the right to this body when you became the mad rapist of suburbia four years ago. You were condemned to Rehabilitation. You're dead, Hamlin — deconstructed — why can't you stay that way?
I'm more alive than you are, Macy. You're just the imaginary creation of some second-rate doctor's mind. You have no reality, but I have. I'm the world's greatest psycho-sculptor, and you're nothing. I'm the one with the right to this body. So get out!
Never! This life is mine.
We'll see about that!...
And then there was pain...
Other resources:
[None on record]
Comments:
The Second Trip is the rather disturbing story of Paul Macy and Nat Hamlin, two personalities who share the same body. In this future, it is possible to obliterate a person's psyche and construct a new one for them. This extreme form of therapy is reserved for people deemed beyond the redemption of conventional therapy, and is seized upon by American society as a more humane way of dealing with criminals than capital punishment. This book also features one of Silverberg's most despicable characters: serial rapist Nat Hamlin. The main problem is that Hamlin's personality was supposed to be wiped out, erased from his brain, and replaced with the rather innocuous but sane construct called Paul Macy. By some fluke, however, Hamlin has survived, buried deep within Macy, waiting to be awakened by the right stimulus.
While I found the internal conversations between Macy and Hamlin often fascinating, they were also sometimes tiresome and repetitive. Still, on the whole, this is an interesting read. I hesitate to use the word
because it is in fact rather unpleasant at times. This is quite intentional on the author's part. He is, after all, depicting a deranged criminal. As with all Silverberg antagonists, Hamlin has redeeming features. He is a brilliant artist, able to capture subtle emotions in a medium called psycho-sculpture (some sort of high-tech sculpture that is not static). He can also be quite charming and was apparently darn-near irresistable to women before his breakdown.One other observation I'd like to make is that from the moment I started reading this book, I had no idea where it was going to end up. The tone is so gritty, pulling no punches about unpleasant subject matter, that nothing would have seemed out of place. I must say Silverberg pulled it off amazingly well. While I wouldn't rate it as one of his very best books, it is fascinating and frightening and holds up well today.
In a newsgroup posting dated 1/21/05, RS commented on The Second Trip: