Subject: Review: The Path of Unreason by George O. Smith

From: "Aaron M. Renn" <[email-masked]>
Date: 25 May 2000 12:29:13 -0400

The Path of Unreason, George O. Smith
	Review Copyright (c) 2000 Aaron M. Renn

Conclusion: A Masterpiece

There's something about old movies from the 40's and 50's - even the great
ones - that just doesn't click with me.  The actors seem to be just a
little too much, well, acting for my taste.  As an example, I saw a
recently restored print of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window" with a couple
friends.  While this film has garnered nearly unanimous praise from
legitimate critics, it left all of us scratching our heads wondering what
the fuss was about.  I mean it was good, but it wasn't _that_ good.

I have the same reaction to most of the science fiction of that era.  But
not this book, which completely blew away my expectations.

When declaring a book a masterpiece, some justification is order.  I can
sum up mine in two words: psychological intensity.  It was no accident
that I mentioned Hitchcock above.  This novel almost immediately ascends
to Hitchcock-like levels of suspense, and it never comes down*.  "The Path
of Unreason" grabbed me almost immediately and proved nearly impossible to
put down.

James Forrest Carroll was a physicist studying the mysterious phenomenon
known as "Lawson radiation."  This peculiar radiation was discovered 34
years previously, but virtually nothing was known about it except one
startling fact: it appeared to propagate instantaneously.  There's one
other curious thing about Lawson radition: every top physicist previously
studying it suffered a catastrophic mental collapse, causing amnesia and
permanent regression to a childlike intellect.

Carroll was the latest victim but, unlike those previous, he shows
some signs of recovering.  While he remembers nothing of physics or his
former life, he is able to take care of himself and move about.  While 
walking about the research facility one day, he notices a young messenger
girl being abducted by men in a black limousine.  He attempts but
fails to rescue her then, wondering what he will do while he watches
the car roll away, he sees her impossibly come walking out of the building 
that had been her original destination.

What unfolds is a story that every X-Files episode aspires to be,
involving the secret conspiracies of what Carroll is certain are space
aliens, but what everyone else believes to be just a manifestation of his
psychosis.  Which one is true?  This is of course the key question of the
book - apart from the survival of planet Earth of course!

This might not sound like an original plot.  Indeed, Smith acknowledges as
much in the story itself.  But where so many others have butchered the
alien conspiracy story into cliche, Smith manages to deliver a superb
performance that is fast paced and intense, featuring solid characters and
solid writing.  Of particular note is the ambiguous ending that leaves us
with almost as many questions as we started with, without setting up what
today would be the obligatory sequel.

"The Path of Unreason" is quite simply without any substantial flaws.  And
at 212 pages it is again proof that superior quality and length are not
directly proporational.  Unfortunately, it is also out of print.  I picked
it up used at a now defunct bookstore in Indianapolis.  If you see a copy,
purchase it immediately.

This book is a rewrite of a novella titled "Kingdom of Blind" that
appeared in "Startling Stories" in July 1947.

* "North by Northwest" is probably a better parallel to this book than
"Rear Window"

%A Smith, George O.
%T The Path of Unreason
%I Ballantine Books
%D 1975-10 (original publication 1958)
%G ISBN 345-24613-6
%P 212 pp.
%O mass market paperback, US$1.50

Reviewed on 2000-05-17

Aaron M. Renn ([email-masked]) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/