(Book Review) Milo Moon: Milo Moon demonstrates Why Derek Haines is one of the better writers around

When reading Derek Haines' Milo Moon two things become clear within` the next three chapters, that Derek Haines is one of the better writers around and Milo Moon is one of the better Sci Fi books you’ll read. Milo Moon is a hot-potch of ideas that are hardly original yet executed well enough for you not to notice with shades Philip K Dick’s Lies, Inc. and Michael Bay’s The Island. Milo Moon touches on  so many genres it’s hard to place this piece in any clearly defined niche.

First off we start with Milo Moon, a unremarkable man leading an even more unremarkable life, when ARC (Alpha Reality Control) employee George Smithe (with an ‘E’) takes Milo on a ride (which we later find out was more psychedelic than anything else) . After such a ride Milo lands and finds out he’s part of the biggest conspiracy that could bring the EU and a number of other organizations with them. However, what’s most interesting is the philosophical and political implications of Milo Moon .

There seems to be message that two heads are better than one and one can live a better when one consciousness is continuous dialogue rather than a one sided, severely critical internal monologue. For example, Milo Before meeting George Smithe or being one part of a mind meld with Michael Fischer was a rather unremarkable man with very few achievements to pin to his name, seemingly drifting through life with no real purpose with his only friend in the world, Cindy, his cat.

However as the story progresses, Milo become fulfilled the moment he mind melds with Michael Fischer, a character with which Milo shares a mind and body. Milo Finds that being part of a consciousness is better as he doesn’t have to make every decision and can take turns living life which is best described in the book with milos interaction with Michael’s Wife Claire. However, even in the mind meld with Michael he still finds that he has little purpose despite finding life much easier to manage.

This view is confirmed further by Milo’s utter despair caused by Michael share of consciousness whittles away into nothingness which leaves Milo, once again, to deal with life on his own. Milo Moon provides a healthy critique of psychoanalytic experiments that took place not too long after the Second World War where the CIA and other governments around the world did their best, unsuccessfully, to master control over others through the use of drugs or experimental psychological methods.

In Milo Moon, we see the stories of the CIA’S mind control experiments in the 50’s from the perspectives of the victims rather than through the eyes of doctors who prove once and for all that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In sum, Milo Moon is a well written book by an author with a knack of writing for the reader making his books easy to pick up and a real challenge to put down.