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I loved the movie so much, I went and read the book. Philip K. d**k was an incredibly uneven writer. Some of his stuff is brilliant, some of it is incredibly... not written for and audience at all. I gave up trying to guess in advance which was which a few years ago after trying to wade through the trilogy with Valis in it. His obsession with God just didn't do anything for me. So I missed Scanner Darkly, which was a shame, because this book is brilliant in it's own way. It's very dense in a late d**k sort of way, but in a good way. It's the mature reflection of a man who lost a lot of friends to drugs over the years. In the afterward he talks about why they loved them and what happened as a result. People have criticized him for only showing the dark side of the drug experience in this book, but his earlier work is often the other side of the argument. I think it's fair to let the man talk about the price towards the end of his life.

As a piece of art, it's brilliant. Compelling characters, plenty of stuff to really think about, and real things to say about the complicity of law enforcement, government, etc in the cycle that makes things like they are when it comes to drugs. It's an important book, and incredible relevant one, even after all this time. It also dovetailed in weird ways with the book I read next: Please Kill Me Now.