A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly by Dick, Philip K.. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780679736653.

Bob Arctor is a dealer of the lethally addictive drug Substance D. Fred is the police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, Fred takes on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D--which Arctor takes in massive doses--gradually splits the users brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesnt realize he is narcing on himself. Caustically funny, eerily accurate in its depiction of junkies, scam artists, and the walking brain-dead, Philip K. Dicks industrial-grade stress test of identity is as unnerving as it is enthralling.