Phil's Reviews > The Men Inside

Another day, another Malzberg. The conciseness and concentration of this man's novels belie the quality of their content, however, and as usual, BNM is here the master of inner-space fiction. On this occasion his protagonist is a technician whose job is to be miniaturised and sent into the bodies of wealthy cancer-patients to precisely excise their tumours.

These "Messengers", as they are known (perhaps with its implication of 'angel' or 'prophet') are venerated by those outside The Institute for which they work, who are, perhaps, unaware that they are selected from among the stunted and otherwise doomed youths of Downside - a violent, dystopian suburb of the city concerned - and that their life expectancy is short, the maximum 10 years which they can expect to work being compensated by money they can only spend on drink, drugs, and prostitutes, or else save futilely against a future none of them will see.

Our antihero, Blount, determines, like some reverse Raskolnikov, that he will murder one of his patients. 'Reverse' because unlike Dostoevsky's character he wishes to do so in order to feel normal, ordinary, human, rather than the bearer of the illusory heroic status conferred on him by others.

This is the story of how he prepares for his crime, considers the punishment of himself and others, and aims for an earthly, physical, visceral (literally !) redemption. As always with Malzberg, it is pithy, spare, fast-paced, and caustically funny, as well as thoughtful and thought-provoking. Considerably shorter than "Crime and Punishment" too.