THE ORGAN BANK FARM

The first science fiction novel I read by John Boyd was ANDROMEDA GUN. I rather liked it and you can read my review of the book elsewhere on this blog. The second science fiction novel by Boyd I've read is THE ORGAN BANK FARM. It may be the last novel by Boyd I ever read. 

To be fair, I do have one more book by him sitting on my shelf. It's SEX AND THE HIGH COMMAND, from September 1971. I'll give it a try but if that book is as bad as ORGAN, that's it for this author for me. 

THE ORGAN BANK FARM is a midlist science fiction novel (and raise your hand if anyone out there remembers midlist paperback fiction), from March 1972. It's one of those books that I considered quitting reading more than once as I plowed through it's 182 pages. But no, I kept going hoping that everything would tie together in some semblance of a coherent plot and a surprise ending (as promised on the back cover blurb), would somehow redeem this unbelievably hot mess of a sf novel. 

ORGAN doesn't lack for ideas. In fact, it has too many, any one of which would make a fairly decent narrative if properly developed. It starts with a bang, a worldwide plague that lasts for seven years (yikes!) and leaves billions dead in its' wake. The two main characters, Doctors Galway and English, were in the military in south Asia during the plague years and it's strongly hinted that they may have been responsible for creating the deadly strain. 

The action begins when Galway is seduced into visiting Paradise Valley, a remote scientific research facility masquerading as a state-of-the-art resort in Northern California. English appears to be in charge and he makes Galway his second in command but the identity of the real head of the facility isn't revealed until late in the book (I guess that's the blurbed surprise). 

English and Galway are in hiding from BAC (Behavior Analysis Computer), which can monitor their moves and innermost thoughts and thwart any attempt to revolt against the mechanical master (which is secretly controlled by either the CIA or the department of Health, Education and Welfare, HEW). BAC is clearly a reference to HAL, the super computer from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968), while making HEW the bad guys echoes the James Coburn film, THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST (1967)in which the phone company is revealed to be the big bad. 

And speaking of analysis, ORGAN is chock full of it. There are pages and pages of psychobabble as Galway attempts to break through with his four young autistic charges, one of whom, Christine,  is an incredibly beautiful (and physically well developed) sixteen year old girl whom Galway, thirty years her senior, lusts after. Ick. 

Oh, and some of the residents of Paradise Valley are cyborgs (a sub plot that goes nowhere), there are experiments involving the splicing of human and animal DNA (shades of Dr. Moreau!), dead bodies are cryogenically stored in vast underground vaults to provide fresh organs for transplants (hence the title and an idea that anticipates Robin Cook's medical thriller COMA (1977)). 

And then there are the brain transplants, which Galway, a neurosurgeon, successfully performs. And it's not just one. By the end of the book, multiple transplants have been performed, so many that's it's hard to remember whose brain now resides in whose body. Brain swapping was a lot simpler in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943).

The whole affair is permeated with enough sexual escapades to fill a Philip Jose Farmer book. Unfortunately, none of it is particularly erotic and the relationship between Galway and Christine is frankly disgusting. Boyd brings a sardonic sense of humor to the narrative and tries to cast everything as an elaborate black comedy but fails miserably in the attempt. 

There's nothing remotely funny (or exciting) about this hot mess of a novel. 

Thumbs down.