CenterForce by T.A. Waters (book review).

CenterForce by T.A. Waters is a book I ended up with in a multiple-bought selection, and I pulled it out at random by an author I’d never heard of. Never trust the back cover of these books, as it doesn’t quite match the interior, only one of its sub-plots. Looking Waters (1938-1998) up, he appears to have been a mentalist with being an SF author on the side, and this was his sixth novel, so at least he has history and wasn’t a one-off.

Here, the future reality is motorbike-orientated, with more than a touch of violence associated with it and bad language from time to time. Unusual in a 1974 SF book. CenterForce, or CenterFuzz as the name should give away, is the police force, more intent on surveillance than chasing criminals down in the USA’s Midwest. Each chapter is only a couple of pages long, making it a quick read in some respects, jumping from book quotes to various activities.

Ben Reed is on the run, but we don’t see much of him. There is more focus on Terry Grogan, head of a motorbike gang with his own level of ethics. He kills a gang member for attacking a young girl and reprimands another member with his fist, accidentally killing him. CenterForce notes what is going on, and there is clearly someone undercover watching.

Although there is a bitty feel to the story, a lot of the time it is really building up a picture of clues that reveal what is going on as they coalesce later in the book. Waters is applying some of his mentalist tricks to ensure you keep the events in your head. He could have chosen a different way to visualise the future but, when you consider this predates Mad Max, his interpretation of the Midwest run by the Hells Angels in all but name also shows he was being careful who he offended.

It’s an unusual take, but whoever said science fiction needs to be an easy read?

GF Willmetts

June 2026

(pub: Dell, 1974. 175-page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 440-06191-095).