Ben Reich is the head of Monarch, a corporation being steadily beaten down by D'Courtney, a rival group. Reich offered a merger, but believing his offer was rejected, decides to murder the Crai D'Courtney, and deal with his problem that way. Problem: Telepaths are a thing that exist in this future, and given that, it's going to be nearly impossible to pull off.
Reich has the resources and the will to try anyway, and he actually gets his man, though D'Courtney dies very confused and apologetic. At which point, the book turns into a cat-and-mouse game between Reich and the Police Prefect Lincoln Powell, one of the more powerful telepaths around. Powell's knows Reich is guilty, Reich knows he knows, but there still has to be proof. All that is fairly interesting, the tricks both sides try to use to uncover or obscure the truth, the desperate search by both sides for D'Courtney's daughter, the only witness.
Then the end turns into a mess. Powell is certain Reich is the kind of man who can shape history, for good or ill, and wants to make sure it's the former. Which leads to a whole thing where Reich becomes convinced he's the only thing real in the universe, and a bunch of jumble about how Reich somehow knew D'Courtney was his father and had abandonment issues.
The thing that particularly bothers me is at the very end. Throughout the whole book, Reich has been thinking of "Demolition", which will be his fate if he's caught. As it turns out, Demolition is telepaths entirely breaking down a person's psyche, then rebuilding over the course of a year or so. Which leads to Powell talking about what a waste the death penalty was, and if only all the non-telepaths could just understand each other like the telepaths do.
I wonder how much Reich is going to be the same man after it's all said and done. Or is he going to be something that's a mockery of a person? The whole reason Powell has for wanting the Demolition to be carried out is he thinks Reich can be of use to humanity. Which makes Powell's speech about how the "normals" just need to learn to see things like the telepaths ring a little hollow. Reich is a resource to Powell, and the fact Powell picks up some blast from Reich's rapidly crumbling psyche that he thinks of Powell as a friend doesn't convince me otherwise. I'm supposed to be convinced Reich is in anything resembling a typical frame of mind while telepaths tear his mind down?
'"No," Reich growled. "Look it over with me first. Why have murders failed? Because mind-readers patrol the world. What can stop a mind-reader? Another one. But no killer ever had the sense to hire a good peeper to run interference for him; or if he had the sense, he couldn't make the deal. I've made the deal."'
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