Stumper on Psychic Police

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osabr

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Hi guys,

My old English teacher told me about a book 10 years ago. Setting is a society that has the police walking around in plain clothes and all of them are psychic. Because of that, a murder has not been successfully committed for decades. The main character wants to commit a murder to see if he can get away with it. He memorizes a rhyme he repeats in his head to mask his thoughts while he plans the murder. Once he completes it, he realizes he has to keep repeating the rhyme in his head otherwise he'll get caught. After awhile, he goes crazy from the repetition. I know it sounds alot like Minority Report. But I don't think that's the book, at least if the movie was close to the book. Any help would be great. You can either post here or send it via email to osabr2000@yahoo.com.

Thanks
 
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester.

"'Tenser', said the tensor,
'Tenser', said the tensor,
'Tension, apprehension, and dissension have begun'..."

The book doesn't quite go like that, but you have a society where you have the psi talents in most professions (including police -- the origin of Babylon-5's Psycorps), no murder has been successfully committed in decades, and someone does pull it off, using a jingle (not a rhyme). The rest of the booik is a game of cat-and-mouse as Lincoln Powell, the psy-cop has to piece together the evidence to convict him (the Courts have to have evidence beyond telepathic readings, as a high-level psi talent could just be making something up, of course). It's an unsual sort of detective tale, as you know who the murderer is from the beginning... the challenge is why (if you read the book carefully, you'll see early on that his ostensible motive couldn't be the real one), and how to capture Benjamin Reich ... especially as Powell finds himself liking the man.

This was the first novel to win a Hugo award, in 1953. (There were none awarded in 1954 for fiction, and the regular awarding of them -- with one exception -- began in 1955.) Very good book, a classic of the field, along with his The Stars My Destination (a.k.a. Tyger, Tyger).:)
 
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