At times science fiction can be a wonderful genre for revealing the essence of the human spirit in the face of our wretchedness and unthrottled pursuit of progress. It is something all the best dystopian novels have in common, and with Mockingbird, Tevis has written a book that sits comfortably amongst those seminal works. I was pleasantly surprised to find a story that held my attention in the same way Huxley, Orwell, Bradbury, and PKD managed to all those years ago, and with the added heart of Keyes' Algernon. If you're also an admirer of any of those writers, you will most likely enjoy this book too.