I picked this book up a year or so back during a tour of Ann Arbor’s many used bookshops. While Tim Powers is mostly known for writing weird-history/occult tales, Dinner at Deviant’s Palace is a science-fiction novel set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

The basic plot follows the adventures of a “redeemer”–a bounty hunter who rescues people from crazy religious cults (which are always cropping up in post-apocalypse settings). The protagonist, Greg Rivas, sets out on One Final Mission to rescue an old flame from the Jaybush cult, which seems to be inspired by Scientology with a dash of radical Pentecostalism.

The first half of the book involves his adventures as he attempts to infiltrate the cult; it’s in this section that the post-apocalyptic setting (mutants, ruined cities, roving biker gangs) is most featured. By the midway point, however, the book has taken a decidedly cerebral turn, as Rivas learns the deep dark secrets behind the cult and realizes that he’s stumbled into something much bigger than just a kidnapping. The book culminates with the eponymous dinner at Deviant’s Palace, a nightmarish hive of scum and villainy, where Rivas confronts the mastermind behind it all.

Overall I quite enjoyed the book. It reminded me of some the short sci-fi novels of Frank Herbert, Arthur C. Clark, and others, in that it’s a fairly fast-paced and focused novel centered on a specific sci-fi concept. There’s not a lot of extra verbiage, which makes the book readable in just a few days. The setting and storyline of Dinner at Deviant’s Palace aren’t entirely representative of Powers’ works, but I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a good sci-fi concept story with a bit of Max Max and the Twilight Zone mixed in.