Reception
Reviewer Groff Conklin characterized The Demolished Man as "a magnificent novel. . . as fascinating a study of character as I have ever read." Boucher and McComas praised the novel as "a taut, surrealistic melodrama a masterful compounding of science and detective fiction," singling out Bester's depiction of a "ruthless and money-mad that is dominated and being subtly reshaped by telepaths" as particularly accomplished. Imagination reviewer Mark Reinsberg received the novel favorably, citing its "brilliant depictions of future civilization and 24th century social life." For a 1996 reprint, author Harry Harrison wrote an introduction in which he called it "a first novel that was, and still is, one of the classics."
Richard Beard describes the book as "full of vigorous action", saying, "the ripping pace of the book becomes part of what it's about."
In an SF Site Featured Review, Todd Richmond (who accidentally and consistently writes "Polwell" for "Powell") wrote that the book is "a complicated game of manoeuvring, evasion, and deception, as Reich and Polwell square off against one another," adding,
The game is a very interesting one, because while Reich is a very rich man and has considerable resources, Polwell has an entire network of peepers to help him gather information and obtain evidence... The best part of Bester's story is its timelessness... There are few references to outlandish or dated technology (with the exception of a punch card computer!) or outrageous social practices or fashions. While Bester's future isn't utopia, neither is it a post-apocalyptic nightmare... Bester extrapolates his view of the 50s forward in time, recognizing that while things like technology will change, basic human nature will not. The Demolished Man is a welcome change for those tired of modern trilogies and series.In his "Books" column for F&SF, Damon Knight selected Bester's novel as one of the 10 best sf books of the 1950s.
The Demolished Man won the 1953 Hugo Award for Best Novel and placed second for the year's International Fantasy Award for fiction. The Orion Publishing Group chose the novel as its fourteenth selection for it series SF Masterworks in 1999.
It has been claimed that the title, much like H. G. Wells's The Invisible Man, influenced later novel titles to use the formula "The Man."
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