The central character is of course Kane: The book begins with his arrival at Camp 18 and ends (except for the final chapter) with his passing. He is introduced to the inmates as a psychiatrist, Colonel Hudson Stephen Kane, "Coming to find out if you're really psycho!" Physically compelling but with sadness in his eyes, Kane hides a secret that comes out, in some detail, close to the end of the book. Kane is actually not a bad psychiatrist, in one scene taking a dangerous hammer away from a mental patient by a combination of physical strength and a clever appeal to the man's delusional idea complex. He certainly is the epitome of caring, his office door open at all times, despite his exhaustion and worsening headaches.

Against Kane is played Captain Billy Thomas Cutshaw, the astronaut who is in Camp 18 for a launchpad refusal to go to the...