Michael Blumlein, The Healer

The Healer

Michael Blumlein

PYR, Jul 2005, $25.00

ISBN: 1591023149

At eleven years old Payne, a "Grotesque" shortened to "Tesque," is upset when they come for his older brother. Three years later, they come for him because Tesques are special as they have the uncanny ability to absorb disease from an ailing person into their body and then excrete the ailment as a "Concretion" from an organ on their side. For the next five years Payne is trained to become a healer. He feels good about his lot as he wants to help others, but also notices the bias against his race starting with his first assignment with the Pannus Mining Company being at the whimsy of his human overseers.

However, over time, humans and Tesques realize that Payne is unique. Unlike his healing peers who suffer and ultimately die young from "the Drain," he seems unaffected though overworked by even the slavish Tesque standards. He even tried to cure a peer from the Drain; of which there is no return. The pressure on Payne suddenly grows as everyone wants him; used to being told what to do Payne feels lost, but refuses any longer to be a puppet on a string pulled by humans or Tesques demanding freedom.

This science fiction novel is a terse character study of an idealist losing his optimism due to the demands on his skills from his handlers and his race with no one deeming him a person; THE HEALER actually even goes deeper than that with a powerful indictment of society's needs superseding the individual's rights including dying. The ending points that in darkest night, there remains a glimmer of the light of hope. Fans who enjoy a complex societal parable will appreciate this superb thriller starring a wonderful protagonist whose simple caring for the wellbeing of others becomes a burden.

Harriet Klausner