A total sleeper hit for me. I find myself thinking about A Scanner Darkly frequently and my appreciation of the novel has only increased since I read it a month ago. I prefer this to Do Androids... and thus have been inspired to continue reading PKD.

My initial impressions of A Scanner Darkly were that I was reading yet another sci-fi novel from the New Wave era featuring a hardened, sexist detective with a stupid name and shallow morals. A Scanner Darkly is something else entirely. It is an introspective examination of a man descending into depersonalization brought about by hard drug use (which he engages in as an undercover police officer attempting to bust his fellow addicts). I was not expecting the themes of this novel to be so intense and examined in such a dark way; self-annihilation, cycles, paranoia, ego death, and self-voyeurism are only some of the ideas addressed. Through the use of first person perspective, PKD subtly (and then overtly) illustrates Arctor's decaying sense of self. The perspective allows for the entire story to take place through an unreliable narrator who is surrounded by security cameras, lying addicts, and untrustworthy law enforcement officers. A sense of unease permeates the entire story and transfers to the reader. The vision of the future PKD paints in A Scanner Darkly is bleak while simultaneously very plausible; the best kind of dystopia. Understanding where PKD was in his life at the time is crucial- his own despair as a user of hard drugs is painful and comes through especially towards the end of the narrative, which features a depressing (but fitting) final moment that leaves the reader with the understanding that the cycle will continue.

I loved this book. I hope that I find other PKD works that are as excellent as this one. 

"I can't any longer these days see into myself."