by Algis Budrys
First published 1987
Martino was a crucial scientist developing the experimental K-88 project when disaster struck. The device detonated, leaving him critically injured and vulnerable to enemy capture. Soviet agents dragged him across their border, where he vanished for months into their medical facilities. When the Soviets finally returned him to Allied territory, Martino bore shocking modifications. His face had been replaced with an blank metal mask, and his arm was now entirely mechanical. Allied Security faces an impossible verification problem. The man before them claims to be Martino and knows classified details about the K-88 research. But his metallic features reveal nothing of his true thoughts or identity. How can they determine whether this figure is actually their missing scientist or a sophisticated Soviet replacement sent to infiltrate their most sensitive operations? The question becomes a matter of national security as officials struggle to pierce through the mechanical exterior to find the human truth beneath.
Genres: science-fiction, suspense, mystery, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: identity-crisis, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Soviet Union, Allied Territory
Period: 20th-century
224 pages · Paperback · Popular Library
Content warnings: body-horror