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Philip K. Dick's Time Out of Joint may very well have influenced the producers of the film The Truman Show.

Orson Scott Card may also have gotten some ideas for Ender's Game. PKD tells this one close to the vest for the first half of the book, slowly developing the action and leaving some M. Night Shyamalan type clues along the way for the reader to pick up.

This was published in 1959, one of his earlier novels and an observant reader of PKD will notice a more subtle approach than some of his later, Kafkaesque absurd and over the top science fiction vehicles. But even this early some ubiquitous themes emerge such as latent conspiracy theories, paranoia, mirror image delusions of grandeur and references to mental illness and self destruction. Also present are familiar classical, biblical and psychological references.

Published and marketed along with his SF canon, but written during the period of his mainstream efforts and less "far out there" than many of his works.

My only criticism is that it takes a while to get where it is going, but this is good, vintage PKD.

*** 2023 reread -

Some friends and I were just mentioning this book in the context of it perhaps inspiring the producers of the 1998 Peter Weir film The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey. Without giving too much away, it wasn’t exactly like the film, but there was enough going on to suggest that there may have been a connection.

In my earlier review I also noticed a possible connection to Orson Scott Card’s writing and again I noticed what could be some allusions to, or inspiration from, Orwell’s 1984.

I consider myself something of a PKD scholar and I will be on the lookout for more possible connections between Dick and Orwell, very intriguing. If you think about it, the absurdist quality of the Ministry of Truth would be right up Phil’s alley.

Also, this time, I considered that Robert A. Heinlein may have been inspired by Dick as there are some similarities between Heinlein’s excellent Moon is a Harsh Mistress (and BTW, the Jimmy Webb song of the same title was lifted from RAH’s 1966 book and had even contacted Heinlein’s attorneys who gave him the green light after Bob stated he had no objection to Webb using the title, which was recorded by Glen Campbell, Joe Cocker and a variety of other singers). There is also records of Heinlein and Dick corresponding and even a story that Heinlein had given Phil some money one time to help out the struggling younger writer.

Ubiquitous PKD themes like unreality, questioned sanity, conspiracy theories and mass psychosis and delusions are also present in this very enjoyable 1959 publication and the then 31 year old writer played the SF down, telling this fairly straight, in a way that would make our modern writer Blake Crouch proud.

This has actually aged quite well and I may try to find more of his earlier work to delve into. This was a fun reread.