Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were a reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

Yes, I’m doing two chapters because Chapter 12 is so short. So Quaid is still on the run and his ally has, as added into the adaptation but not in the movie, been killed by Richter. He does that a lot, you know. Luckily he left something behind that Doug’s really going to need.

Chapter 12: Johnny and Chapter 13: Hauser

Chapter 12 really only serves two purposes: to show us how stupid the AI cabbies are (and the joke doesn’t work as well in prose as it did in the movie) and to show us how stupid Richter is. Again. Quaid tries to escape in the cab and crashes. Richter, instead of immediately checking the car to make sure Quaid’s in there as dead as his boss doesn’t want him to be, I may add, lets the car practically burn out on its own. Sorry, Richter, but “I like my meat well-done” isn’t so badass when your “meat” is actually getting as far away from you as he possibly can, with the muscle memory of his former life helping him along the way. So not only can you not follow your bosses orders because of professional and personal jealousy, you can’t even do it right.

The 13th Chapter is Quaid going through the satchel, finding his ID and the holographic clone watch which will see use more than once in this story. Nice to see they found more than once use. Take that, Mr. Bond.

Then we get our introduction to “Hauser” and this is going to be one of the most important comebacks when it comes to figuring out Cohaagen’s plan. We’re told that Hauser used to be a bad guy until he met a woman (the one in Quaid’s dream, most likely) who set him straight. Which factors into the “Cohaagen’s full of #$#$” deal later. And Quaid escapes again because Richter an idiot. What? He couldn’t have seen the rat ploy? I’m still talking about not checking the cab sooner to realize Quaid/Hauser wasn’t in it. And I’m sure the stupidity will continue as we see him continue to chase Quaid to Mars.

Next Time: Ship

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