Hugo nominee: Who? by Algis Budrys, 1959
My view: a dark book that treats the concept of being stuck in the uncomfortable middle ground of the Cold War with the symbolism it deserves, Who? is one of those novels most people probably won't forget years - or even decades - after reading it. I'm not sure how much Kafka Budrys read during his life, but Lucas Martino's dilemmas as a character (suspected by all, but especially by those who knew him before he was "rebuilt") seems to have been inspired by him to a certain degree.
Or maybe that's just Budrys' understanding of that decade's international politics and how it related to his expatriate background talking. A enjoyable, unnerving novel, and its unresolved cliffhanger ending is just about perfect considering the subject matter.
Nuggety?: Absolutely not.
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