A Scanner Darkly
by Philip K. Dick
Design by Laura Dumm and Gary Dumm
Additional Text by Harvey Pekar
Pantheon

You don't have to be into sci-fi to know Dick. Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck?. You've seen 'em. Or you've read where they come from. And even if you haven't done either, you've felt 'em all, reverberating through the pop conscious of our collective mind.

With Richard Linklater's lensing of A Scanner Darkly, the graphic grandmaster has perhaps his most faithful rendering yet.

The story: A yesterday so far advanced that it could well be tomorrow. Or today. Orange County. Firm in the grip of the insidious Substance D, and hard under the heavy of Law Enforcement. Junkies. And their insoluble need. Dealers. And their inviolable greed. Narcs. And their concomitant paranoia.

And nothing is what it seems to be.

If you've read the original, you'll have no trouble believing Reeves or Ryder or Downey or — especially — Harrelson in their respective star turns; if you're on to Linklater's flickery, you'll know why.

And if you put your mitts on this elegant companion piece to both, you'll be delighted. Like all tie-ins, the book's a bit of a keepsake. Unlike most, it's a book worth keeping.

— John Hood (thatcathood [at] hotmail [dot] com)