[A Scanner Darkly] treats one of the major problems of our society today, namely drug abuse, but is written as science fiction set in the near future. I wish the author had treated his main theme with realism, describing the situations and events more accurately, but instead everything tends to be vague and uncertain….

Unfortunately the things are described so vaguely that the situation gets quite illogical. I suppose the license of the science fiction writer allows him to present the ideas ambiguously without filling in specific details, and in this case the author has taken full liberty with his license. The result is a story which is formless, slow moving, and repetitive. (p. 37)

Riaz Hussain, in Best Sellers (copyright © 1977 Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation), May, 1977.