The Dispatcher (2016) John Scalzi
Alright. For the
record I like reading John Scalzi. I
particularly like the Old Man’s War
series. The Dispatcher is a bit different.
Imagine a world where any death caused intentionally does not "stick". People come back. So if someone is about to die from natural
causes you could hire someone to intentionally kill them and they will come
back at a point where something different could be tried. This is where our hero Tony Valdez comes
in. He is just this sort of person who
intentionally kills someone to avoid their dying from natural causes. Who hires such a person? Well,
hospitals, of course, for
one. If you are a surgeon who is about
to lose someone on the table Tony can pull out his “gun” and off the person
before they die a natural death and same the hospital the explanation. Another
candidate might be a couple of college boys who decide to play at being
medieval knights for real with swords and ball and hammers. Once they have chopped off a few limbs the
dispatcher can kill them and they will reappear in one piece. You can still
kill someone if you are patient - it is
a little gruesome but ingenious. You
will need to read it to see how.
In this novella he must figure out why his friend and
dispatcher has gone missing and why his last client did not come back as
planned. It is an interesting premise that brings up a lot of questions – some
of which Scalzi tackles. Seems like an
easy set up for a B-level Sci fi movie or short run series. Wouldn’t surprise me. It is sort of like Looper in a way but with a different premise.
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