Philip K. Dick is best known for being the mind behind the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", better known to most as the cult sci-fi film "Blade Runner". Dick is a master of expressing paranoia and delusion, frequently within a science fiction setting, although it is the ideas that take center stage, rather than the "science" of it all. In a Philip K. Dick novel, things are never what they appear to be at first glance.

"A Maze of Death" fits right in with other Dick novels I've read, and as usual his explorations of paranoid thinking take center stage. As the back cover synopsis suggests, the characters here find themselves on the strange planet of Delmak-O, brought together through means not of their own choosing. While on the oddly deserted world, they find themselves packed together in a semi-modern encampment, surroundings not unlike what the characters in John Carpenter's "The Thing" lived in. Fact is, the plot follows in much the same way as "The Thing"; these people are being killed left and right, and nobody is beyond suspicion.

Another element Dick introduces here are far-future ideas concerning God and theology. Imagine taking some of the far-out ideas in today's theological studies, yet implementing those ideas as PART OF accepted beliefs in God. The Bible re-written, essentially... right down to the names of the divine characters involved. Combining this with firm evidence that the divine walk among us, the idea that prayers are answered on a frequent basis, and you have the basis for a LOT of interesting twists and turns, particularly when it's in the capable hands of Dick.

As the story progresses, however, this novel does not deliver what it promises. I had a hard time picturing Dick's ideas, which is unusual in my experience with him. This story seemed rushed a bit, and the theological ideas could have (and should have) been fleshed more thoroughly. Dick's skills with paranoid minds within a situation ripe with paranoia are well done, but compared to his other novels, this one is very flat and by-the-numbers. The proverbial rug is pulled out from under the reader near the end of "A Maze of Death", and I enjoyed that payoff quite a bit... but the abrupt changes in the plot leave earlier plot devices unsolved. I am giving this novel 3- stars, which I've translated to 3 for Amazon reviewing purposes. I didn't want to round "up", since in this case I won't recommend this novel to the novice Dick reader. Get "A Scanner Darkly" instead if you're new to the author.

Oh, and one more thing: to those reviewers who have decided to review this book from the perspective of the characters at the END of the novel, shame on you. Please, in future, refrain from RUINING the surprise endings of a book! How you can justify starting your review by giving away what's "really" going on in "A Maze of Death" goes beyond "spoiler" in my book. Shame on you!