Line #40 Literature/Neuropath


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6	[[quoteright:170:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NeuropathCover_9187.jpg]]
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8	->''You are not what you think you are.''
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10	''Neuropath'' (2008) is a [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture near-future]] {{Thriller}} by R. Scott Bakker, better known as the author of ''Literature/SecondApocalypse''.
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12	Professor of psychology Thomas Bible's life is turned upside down when the FBI arrives on his doorstep with reports of murders and gruesome experiments. The prime suspect is Tom's old college buddy Neil Cassidy, who has set out to prove a philosophical argument in [[NightmareFuel the most shocking way possible...]]
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14	!! Provides examples of:
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16	%%* AxCrazy: The Chiropractor.
17	%%* ActionSurvivor: Mia.
18	* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: Just about every bad thing the protagonist didn't want to happen, happened.]]
19	%%* AndIMustScream:[[spoiler: Frankie.]]
20	* AnimalsLackAttributes: Very explicitly averted when Tom's dog rolls over and exposes his genitals. Agent Gerard finds it hilarious and says it's so big it should get its own website. Then makes up some domain names. ("www.dog-got-a-bone.com")
21	* BigNo: Thomas, right before [[spoiler: Mia slams his SUV into the NYPD patrol car.]]
22	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Without free will, there is no morality. Neil demonstrates.
23	%%* ChaseScene: One of the few upbeat sections of the novel, in fact.
24	* CosmicHorrorStory: Like {{Literature/Blindsight}} with The Argument instead of aliens. There is no Counterargument.
25	* CrapsackWorld: Judging by news reports, most of the world seems to have gone to hell.
26	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: The serial killer known as the Chiropractor rips out his victims' spinal columns. This happens to one character [[spoiler: (Neil)]] while he is paralyzed but still fully conscious.
27	%%* CyberPunk: A subtle near-future example.
28	* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: The protagonist crosses it due to Neil's MindRape.]]
29	* ElectricInstantGratification: Used in a truly horrific fashion. The book's villain, who aims to prove that free will is an illusion created to cover up the mass of cognitive processes that take us through the day, abducts a porn star and uses direct nerve stimulation to put her in the throes of pleasure. [[spoiler:Then he switches the pathways that register pain and pleasure, and gives her a shard of glass...]]
30	* EmotionSuppression: This happens to [[spoiler: Neil, and eventually Thomas and Nora.]]
31	* FateWorseThanDeath: A device is implanted in Frankie's head that stimulates the part of his brain that causes fear, meaning that he is in permanent agony which nothing can stop.
32	* FightingFromTheInside: {{Averted\|Trope}}. As Neil Cassidy notes, "Everyone expects to be [[Franchise/StarTrek Captain Kirk]]", but as he controls every thought and emotion, it is an impossibility. Near the end of the story, he even manages to get Thomas Bible to rationalize all the horrors he has inflicted upon him, including [[spoiler:condemning his son to a FateWorseThanDeath]].
33	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Everybody who has come into contact with enough neuroscience suffers this at some point, although Neil takes it to extremes (though he didn't seem very nice beforehand).]]
34	%%* GovernmentConspiracy
35	* InherentInTheSystem: Every system, be it politics, biology, or the values on which we base our lives, is basically depicted as a complete sham.
36	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Neil Cassidy claims to be Frankie's father.]]
37	%%* MadScientist: [[spoiler:Neil, obviously.]]
38	%%* MindControlDevice: Nicknamed "Mary".
39	* MindRape: The most horrendously extreme MindRape happens to [[spoiler:Neil's victims, and quite possibly ''the audience'' experience this.]]
40	** In this near future, the NSA neurologists routinely MindRape suspected terrorists as interrogation.
41	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Samantha Logan,]] who is revealed in a truly unsettling scene.
42	* MrExposition: Tom, rather irritatingly in places.
43	%%* NietzscheWannabe: Neil.
44	%%* OutWithABang: [[spoiler:Samantha Logan.]]
45	* PrimalFear: Of the "existential dread" variety. You are not what you think you are. You have absolutely no free will and your mind can be manipulated completely.
46	* SerialKiller: The Chiropractor, real identity [[spoiler:Theodore Gyges]], brutally murders several people by ripping their spines out.
47	* ShownTheirWork: Tom's speeches about neurology and psychology. Mostly justified in-story as they are dealing with a killer who literally mind-controls people, but sometimes Tom suddenly goes off on yet another rant about psychology when that scene could have done without it.
48	* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVsFate: The brain is a physical organism, therefore it is governed by the same laws of nature as everything around us. People's actions are completely predictable and can be manipulated to an extreme degree, as one character does using a futuristic device.
49	* TheSociopath:
50	** Neil Cassidy destroyed parts of his mind in order to devote himself to the Argument, and thus is fundamentally incapable of feeling compassion for anyone or remorse for the terrible things he's done.
51	** [[spoiler:Sam]] is also incapable of feeling love, guilt, or remorse because Neil destroyed parts of her mind as well.
52	* SquishyWizard: Having absolute power over people's minds surely qualifies [[spoiler: Neil]] for this.
53	* StealthPun: Neuropath. What's a related word to 'neuro-'?'''Psycho-'.''
54	%%* StraightGay: Mia.
55	* TapOnTheHead: {{Averted\|Trope}}. Tom Bible notes that it's not like in the movies, and that the guard he and Mia knocked out will need medical help quickly.
56	* TitleDrop: TheMole is a "neuropath."
57	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The year in which the novel takes place is never stated, but 2010 is mentioned as a year gone by (The novel was published in 2008). Government buildings have fMRI scanners at the entrances, Europe is freezing to death because the Gulf Stream has changed course and Moscow has been reduced to a crumbling wasteland.

Context Literature / Neuropath