The Lowdown

This is a science fiction novel written by Alfred Bester and first published in 1956, which is sometimes billed as an adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. In fact though, while there are some superficial similarities, there is probably too much original story in this book for it to be considered a true adaptation.

Some Observations

• The story centres on Gully Foyle, a low-grade spaceman who is marooned in a wrecked spaceship for 6 months. At one point a ship arrives which could rescue him, but it fails to do so and he sets out to revenge himself on it.
• First for the similarities: we have a revenge theme, and a man imprisoned in a dungeon-like environment and escaping against the odds. He is also later imprisoned a second time in a different place, and there meets another prisoner who educates him. When he escapes he finds a treasure, and assumes a flamboyant persona in order to mask his true purpose.
• That's probably about it for similarities though. None of the characters map across; Gully Foyle is not an innocent like the young Edmond Dantes, he's just uneducated and sluggish. Most of the action focuses on Foyle's (at first incoherent) attempt to take revenge on the physical ship itself, and then later to find the people responsible for leaving him marooned. There are no friends / acquaintances who betrayed him, no fiancee who abandons him, no elaborate plan for ironic revenge.

The Verdict

There is lots more to this story than The Count of Monte Cristo. One of the main motifs is that it is set in a world where humans have discovered that most people have the ability to teleport ('jaunt') at will, and the effect this has on the economy / society. The backdrop is a war between Earth and the 'outer satellites' and there are lots of imaginitive sequences, characters and ideas which make this a story in its own right. It's excellent and you should read it.

Characters and Plot Elements