In this story, a special police unit known as PreCrime is able to predict a crime even before the criminal plans to commit it. Claiming complete accuracy with this technique, this unit tracks down the individuals named by their team of precogs and sends them to a detention camp so that they are unable to commit the crime that they clearly would have. PreCrime Commissioner John Anderton founded the unit and has spent his career proving its efficiency and results. Until his name appears on the list one day, with the result that he will commit murder in under a week. Convinced of a conspiracy from within, Anderton must get to the bottom of it before he falls victim to one of his own.

At just over a hundred pages, this is a very quick little story. I have only vague memories of the movie with Tom Cruise but I very much enjoyed Dick’s style with this story. Once again it features a main character who isn’t exactly overly likeable. Anderton is a suspicious, cranky older man who just wants to maintain control over his police unit when things start to crumble underneath him and he can’t be sure who he can trust or what’s even really happening. There are plans within plans and it all hinges on whether he really will kill his victim. I can’t say much more without spoiling parts of the story but definitely adding it to my list of enjoyable Philip K. Dick sci fi.

Fast-paced short story with a very interesting premise! I’ve never seen the movie though I’ve heard of it so I had no clue what the book would be about. I found the overarching ideas of the book - precrime and the precogs themselves - to be super interesting. However, I think the narrative suffered from short the stories were. The characters are not well developed and the main character’s thinking changes often before the reader has been persuaded to agree with him. While the short story was satisfying, I think this concept might’ve benefitted from more exposition. I’m excited to watch the movie though!!