The King of the City, Keith Laumer

I have a recollection of being a fan of Keith Laumer when I was in my teens. Like most books and/or authors that I read from this period of time, what I recollect in terms of the skill of the author or the quality of the story, has mostly changed. Further, my memory of any details of said books is mostly lost (with some notable exceptions). In Laumer's case, I can only, and very dimly, recall Retief as a character from a few of his books. "The King of the City," by Keith Laumer, is available freely at Gutenberg.org.

This story is rooted in action. Most of it involves taking a man into the big city in a car. Except, this is in the future, several centuries from now, when major governments have broken down. All that is left is fractious city states in the hands of cut throats.

The car itself that he uses to drive is fast, going in excess of 150mph (240km/h). It has weapons. It has no intelligence at all (something to be expected in the near future), and so the driver drives and shoots at the same time with his passenger in the rear.

There are several checkpoints in which he has to mix fighting and bribery to get through.

But, overall, the story is rather dull. I don't recommend it. There are several others of Laumer's on Gutenberg. I will read a few more. On the bright side, there's no sense of sexism or racism here. Everyone is male. Everyone, I assume, is white.