History Literature / DoubleStar

* MethodActing: Smythe uses some amount of this to get into his characters, and even used the psychotic aspect of one character as a crutch when he had to [[spoiler: chop up a body.]]

* {{Fainting}}: when Smythe's cover is nearly blown Penny manages to hold herself together until they reach the privacy of her office whereupon she faints. Later, after a day of agonizing tension, she discovers their ploy has not been blown and faints again from relief.

''Double Star'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/RobertAHeinlein first published in 1956 as a serial. It's ''ThePrisonerOfZenda'' InSpace.

* ShoutOut: See the NoodleIncident entry. The bit about "I didn't know how old she was" is about ErrolFlynn.

** To be fair he is clearly a very fine actor, and the Emperor himself is one of his fans.

Although Smythe is reluctant at first, he soon becomes interested in the political opinions he's now forced to advocate, and starts to make an honest effort to get along with the aliens and the political supporters he always tried to avoid in the past. And when he has to make an appearance at the court of Bonforte's long-time friend,Willem of Orange, Emperor of the Solar System, he finds himself enjoying his new role and the friendships it brings more than he'd imagined...

Although Smythe is reluctant at first, he soon becomes interested in the political opinions he's now forced to advocate, and starts to make an honest effort to get along with the aliens and the political supporters he always tried to avoid in the past. And when he has to make an appearance at the court of Bonforte's long-time friend, Galactic Emperor Willem of the Netherlands, he finds himself enjoying his new role and the friendships it brings more than he'd imagined...

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Martians have a highly complex system of politeness. The main problem of the book is that a politician may be late to a ceremony that inducts him into a Martian clan. There is a legend on Mars about a young Martian who was on his way to a high honor (equal at least to an alien being inducted to a clan), and the consequence of being late was ''death''. Due to no fault of his own, he was late, but it was proposed (by some of the Martian radicals) that he be given a second chance, on account of youth and having an extremely distinguished record. He would have none of it. So he insisted on the right to prosecute the case against him against ''himself'', won the case, and was consequently executed. Which is why he is now held in reverence as the ''patron saint of propriety'' on Mars.

!!Provides Examples Of:

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Martians have a highly complex system of politeness. The main problem of the book is that a politician may be late to a ceremony that inducts him into a Martian clan. There is a legend on Mars about a young Martian who was on his way to a high honor (equal at least to being inducted to a clan), and the consequence of being late was ''death''. Due to no fault of his own, he was late, but it was proposed (by some of the Martian radicals) that he be given a second chance, on account of youth and having an extremely distinguished record. He would have none of it. So he insisted on the right to prosecute the case against him against ''himself'', won the case, and was consequently executed. Which is why he is now held in reverence as the ''patron saint of propriety'' on Mars.

Lorenzo Smythe is an out of work actor. Brilliant at his trade, egotistical as hell, but completely unemployed. He receives an interesting job offer: impersonate someone so perfectly that no one will know he isn't the original. Only after accepting the job does he realize the person is John Joseph Bonforte, a famous (and infamous) politician who is the antitheses of every vague political opinion the generally species-bigoted Smythe holds. But he's accepted the job, and to hide Bonforte's kidnapping from the public, Smythe must learn to completely become another person in looks, thoughts, and actions--and to put aside his own.

* AuthorFilibuster: It wouldn't be a Heinlein novel without one.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Martians have a highly complex system of politeness. The main problem of the book is that a politician may be late to a ceremony that inducts him into a Martian clan. There is a legend on Mars about a young Martian who was late to something important (equal to being inducted to a clan), and the consequence of this is ''death''. Due to no fault of his own, he was late, but it was proposed (by some of the Martian radicals) that he be given a second chance, on account of youth and having an extremely distinguished record. He would have none of it. So he insisted on the right to prosecute the case against him against himself, won the case, and was consequently executed. Which is why he is now held in reverence as the ''patron saint of propriety'' on Mars.

Lorenzo Smythe is an out of work actor. Brilliant at his trade, egotistical as hell, but completely unemployed. He receives an interesting job offer: impersonate Bonforte, a politician, to hide his kidnapping from the public. To pull the deception off, Smythe must learn to completely become another person in looks, thoughts and actions and put aside his own.

Although Smythe is reluctant at first, he soon becomes interested in the political opinions he's now forced to advocate, and starts to make an honest effort to get along with the aliens and the political supporters he always tried to avoid in the past. And when he has to make an appearance at the court of Bonforte's long-time friend, Galactic Emperor Willem of the Netherlands, he finds himself enjoying his new role and the friendships it brings more than he'd imagined.

* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:By the end of the novel, Smythe no longer exists. He ''is'' Bonforte.]]

* LostInCharacter: Smythe is hired to impersonate a kidnapped politician. He becomes so immersed in being this man that [[spoiler: after the original is killed, he takes over and actually becomes him. By the end of the book, he's happily abandoned his old life. What's more, his secretary has convinced herself that she never loved anyone but Smythe, and Smythe doesn't really mind the fact that she's obviously lying to herself]].
* MethodActing: Smythe used this to get into his characters, and even used the psychotic aspect of one character as a crutch when he had to chop up a body.

* SpottingTheThread: Smythe spends weeks studying Bonforte's files on everyone around him to make the masquerade work. He notices that the file on the emperor is nearly empty, and assumes that they don't have much contact... until he meets the emperor, and gets found out, because the point of the files is to help Bonforte remember things about people ''less'' politically important than he is. He's caught when he dutifully plays with the emperor's toy trains instead of teasing him about them.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Martians have a highly complex system of politeness. The main problem of the book is that a politician may be late to a ceremony that inducts him into a Martian clan. There is a legend on Mars about a young Martian who was late to something important, and the consequence of this is ''death''. Due to no fault of his own, he was late, but it was proposed (by some of the Martian radicals) that he be given a second chance, on account of youth and having an extremely distinguished record. He would have none of it. So he insisted on the right to prosecute the case against him against himself, won the case, and was consequently executed. Which is why he is now held in reverence as the ''patron saint of propriety'' on Mars.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Martians have a highly complex system of politeness. The main problem of the book is that a politician may be late to a ceremony that inducts him into a Martian clan. There is a legend on Mars about a young Martian who was late to something important, and the consequence of this is ''death''. He was given a second chance, on account of being young and having only a partially formed brain. He would have none of it, so he brought a case against himself in court, successfully prosecuted himself for being late, was consequently executed, and is now held in reverence as the ''patron saint of propriety'' on Mars.