The moment you read that first miniaturized Ubik advertisement above chapter one, you realize this is not going to be your average science fiction novel. This is going to be more. This is going to transcend the laws of linear time, and those of an ordered universe.

This is going to be pure Philip K. Dick. And there is the beauty that lies within.

The story follows Joe Chip and his fellow band of precogs from Runciter Associates as they travel with their boss, Glen Runciter, to a colony to meet with their business competitors. In a wild explosion, Runciter is killed. Or was he?

And that's just the beginning.

As the story progresses, reality and time seem to diminish. Joe Chip's money has Runciter's face on it. When he goes to buy a pack of cigarettes, the pack crumbles in his hands, as if it were hundreds of years old. Objects they are accustomed to seeing everyday, revert to their prior form (i.e., hovering cars to old autos). Soon enough, his fellow precogs are experiencing it as well. It's all simply a question of Who will be next? and What can we do about it?

In order not to give away much of the story, I'm afraid I may be limiting the brilliance of this novel. The characters are all so materialistic because their entire world acts in that fashion. They have difficulty comprehending the process because they have become so accustomed to a modern way of life. And when the world once again reaches the year 1936, they don't even suspect that humans may follow suit.

Some of the most clever elements of this book are casual references to absurd and outlandish things now fused with daily life. For instance, Joe Chip has to borrow money from the girl he's interviewing so he can make a pot of coffee...in his own apartment. The coffeemaker scolds him for not having enough money to even open the coin-operated door. Runciter keeps his wife in a moratorium in Switzerland: a facility for holding on to and maintaining human beings in a "half-life" stage. That is, they're frozen until needed. Spouses often want to speak with them, as do old friends. But, as time passes, the period of thawing becomes dangerous and the half-lifers may die again.

The book seems to move faster than most other Dick novels, and yet we still get an intimate look into the world of the future as well as the characters. I had moments when I anticipated one of Joe Chip's acts, as if I had known him for years. The plot is as strong as any other and the characters development indicate a milestone. An achievement first recognized in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which continues through the remainder of his books.

In every sense of the word, Ubik is a masterpiece. It reminds me of Andrei Tarkovsky's metaphysical sci-fi film Stalker in that three thousand people can read three thousand things in the eerie symbolism. Whatever you make of it--be it an image of souls lost in a world consumed by a "plastic-equals-godliness" mentality or something completely different--Ubik is brilliant. It remains one of Dick's best. Ubik is his most well-crafted vision. Adventurous. Metaphysical. Disturbing.