The Prayer Machine

The world is turning inside out…

‘Both humanly and scientifically plausible. Read and be scared’ THE SUN

Neil Prentice dares to try to turn the universe inside out, driven by forces he barely comprehends.

There is such terror in his mind that he drives down to Norton — a modern scientific complex in the West Country — to rid himself of a tormenting idea and to quell the voices which rage inside him. But the psychiatrists there are violently divided about his condition.

Is he someone who really understands the appalling consequences of the genetic engineering being carried on at Norton … does he know, by means of some completely inexplicable process, where the blanket use of antibiotics will lead … or the horrifying consequences of the chance bonding of molecules of plastic and the organic cells of life itself?

If he is merely mad, does that explain why there is madness gathering in the dark clouds over Norton?

Perhaps most worryingly is the answer to the question: is he the first person ever to pass through a celestial black hole?

If so, what they will find on the other side has the ability to shake the very foundations of their world…

This is a novel which reveals a link between schizophrenia and metaphysics and takes the reader into the unknown labyrinths of the psychotic’s world. In The Prayer Machine, we go round the Mobius twist to examine secrets which colossal laser-power can penetrate and explain. We travel a road that leads to places we have never been before, nor ever will again.

Praise for Christopher Hodder-Williams:

‘It is fast-moving, at times almost bafflingly so, and has this author’s customary display of technical expertise.’ DAILY TELEGRAPH

‘Utterly credible and applicable to the whole community.' DAILY EXPRESS

‘Both humanly and scientifically plausible. Read and be scared’ THE SUN

‘Transfixed me throughout. It’s hard, fast, suspenseful …’ TRIBUNE

‘Horribly fascinating — and as disconcerting as LSD’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘Christopher Hodder-Williams writes science fiction in that too rare Wellsian sense of solidly worked-out fiction exploring solidly worked-out science.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘One of those writers on whom critics have lavished almost every word of praise possible.’ RADIO TWO

‘… secures for its author a comfortable place among the best catastrophe writers — Verne, Wyndham and Wells.’ TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

‘Scathing exposure of psycho-surgery … A novel with an acute contemporary theme.’ BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

‘Tortuous enough to send you round the Mobius twist …’ NEW STATESMAN

‘It's a gripping tale, well told, that holds you right to the end, and leaves you with the memory of its disturbing implications.’ BIRMINGHAM POST

Christopher Hodder-Williams was an English writer, mainly of science fiction, but he wrote novels about aviation and espionage as well. Before his career in writing, Hodder-Williams joined the army in 1944, and served in the Middle East and lived in Kenya and New York, later settling in the UK. Many of his books are early examples of what would later be called techno-thrillers. He also worked as a composer and lyricist, and wrote numerous plays for television.


Genre: Science Fiction