The Power (Robinson novel)

The Power is a 1956 science fiction novel by American writer Frank M. Robinson. It first appeared in the March 1956 edition of Blue Book magazine and then in a standalone book published by J. B. Lippincott in May that year.[1] Its protagonist, a researcher named Tanner, discovers evidence of a person with psychic abilities among his coworkers. As he tries to uncover the superhuman, his existence is erased and his associates murdered, until he faces a showdown with an apparently invincible opponent.

Cover of the first standalone edition.

The novel was made into a Studio One television episode and a 1968 film under the same name.

Reception

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Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel as "a harrowing chase that will have you biting your nails."[2] Anthony Boucher found that the novel's logical extrapolation was "not so much absurd as just absent. . . . . there has never been a less credible picture of the next step in evolution"; but he, too, praised Robinson's melodramatic storytelling.[3]

References

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  1. ^ www.isfdb.org Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  2. ^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1956, p.93
  3. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, July 1956, p.94.