Night of Delusions

by Keith Laumer

Book Overview

A tough guy detective named Florin gets a very strange assignment. He is supposed to guard a senator during a last ditch effort to restore the senator's mental health. Or perhaps he is trying to guard... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425024970
• ISBN13: 9780425024973
• Release Date: January 1975
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Dream Machine

Night of Delusions (1972) is a standalone short SF story. It is set in the mid-future. It starts out like a film noir detective story and then turns into a nightmare. In this novel, Florin is hired to bodyguard an insane Senator while his associates use technological illusions to shock him into reality. But suddenly he finds himself in a dingy bar across from a nice looking young woman. Then he goes out into the night and finds things have changed. Florin keeps waking up, only to discover that he is still in a dream world. A pink lizard named Diss shows up time and again and gives him a very convincing spiel on his present condition. Unfortunately, the gecko is mostly lying. Florin learns that the Senator is an actor named Bardell. He also learns the real names of Big Nose, Lardface and other associates of the Senator. Then he wakes up in the dream machine. In this story, Florin has his perceived reality change over and over again. The structures move and change shape. Only the characters stay the same, but not their roles in his life. And the color Nile green seems to appear frequently. The young woman is named Curia Regis. She is always sitting across from him when he recovers consciousness. Her relation to him changes with each recurrence. Somehow, Florin believes that she is not associated with Big Nose and the other players. Florin is rendered unconscious by various means. Sometimes he is attacked and knocked out. Other times, the lights just go off and he floats around for a while. But he always reappears in the bar across from Curia. This tale goes into some deep philosophic pits. Florin cannot tell if he is dreaming or awake until he awakes in the bar. He is told that the machine is responding to his unconscious desires. So he tries to gain conscious control of the device. This novel is the most confusing work by the author. I have read it several times and still get confused. The only consistent element is the hero's stubborn resistance to surrendering control of his own fate. This novel is not among the greatest works of the author. Yet it is entertaining in a demented sort of a way. Enjoy! Recommended for Laumer fans and anyone else who enjoys tales of dream manipulation, persevering heroes, and sheer confusion. -Arthur W. Jordin

Highly Original, very easy to read at one sitting.

I'm drawn by Keith Laumer's simplistic style and easy reading, as well as his original plot twists. I first read this in 1975, and the story is as fresh now as then. The story is what I would call 'Psychological SF'. I do think the work leaves some questions unanswered in the plot, but nonetheless Night of Delusions is an excellent work of SF that should be read by serious SF fans. See also Keith Laumer's A Trace of Memory.