The Jagged Orbit

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John Brunner

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The tale occurs in 2014 USA. Interracial tension has passed a breaking point. The Mafia-like Gottschalks exploit this to sell weapons to all able to buy. A split develops within the cartel, between conservative old men & ambitious underlings prepared to use new computer technology to pull off spectacular coups. Several separate narrative strands follow particular characters. James Reedeth is a young psychologist at NY's major mental health institution who's disenchanted with his job & his employer, the reverend Elias Mogshack. Lyla Clay is a pythoness, a young woman capable of metabolising certain psychedelic drugs to enter trances in which she makes unconscious predictions. Matthew Flamen, a spoolpigeon (a kind of investigative journalist), is struggling to hold onto his job, & by obsessive behavior has driven his wife into Mogshack's asylum. The plot contrives to bring strands together & resolve matters by lengthy discussions between Flamen, Reedeth, Lyla Clay, Pedro Diablo (Flamen's African-American counterpart), Xavier Conroy (Mogshack's critic) & Harry Madison (a former asylum patient).