Plague of Pythons

In a world unhinged by seemingly random ‘possessions,’ ordinary people commit atrocities and then swear they had no control over their own bodies. Chandler, an engineer disgraced and branded a fraud after being tried for a murder he insists he never committed, uncovers the truth behind the epidemic: the possessions are engineered, the work of a small group who have learned to seize other minds at will. Frederik Pohl turns a paranoid premise into a taut story about power, guilt, and free will, following one man’s fight to expose a hidden tyranny. First serialized in 1962, it shows the veteran science fiction author working in a darker, more unsettling register. Read it free as a PDF or EPUB.