"Paycheck" is a 1953 novelette by Philip K. Dick. It is about a man who is using a handful of clues to help him remember what he has been doing for the past two years.

A Cool Movie...

My first encounter with "Paycheck" was when I watched the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. I quite liked it and it wasn't until after the show was over that I learned it was based on a Philip K. Dick short story. Then last week when I wrote a short review of the Philip K. Dick Reader I was reminded that this was one of the stories in it. I had a hankerin' to read it, so I finally sat down and did it. I'm glad I did.

...Based On A Cool Story

So, "Paycheck" is the story of Jennings, a highly skilled mechanic who "wakes up", as it were, without any memories of the last two years of his life. The last thing he remembers is making a deal with Rethrick Construction company. Oh he knew that his memories would be removed in exchange for his services and a whole lotta money, but when the promised money isn't delivered and the government starts putting pressure on him to spill the beans about Rethrick he decides it is time to find out what he was really up to during that time frame.

My Two Cents...

• Like most Philip K. Dick stories, Paycheck is just darn fun to read - you gotta love that!
• I liked the sense of mystery - of the character not knowing what had happened and figuring it out as the story went along.
• At first I was unimpressed by the lucky coincidences of the trinkets, but as the story went on it was explained well and I quite enjoyed seeing how they were used.

Stats:

• My Rating:
• Page Count: 23
• Word Count: 13,509
• "Paycheck" was originally published in the June 1953 issue of Imagination.
• It is one of the stories included in the Philip K. Dick Reader - available at Amazon.com.^†
• You can read "Paycheck" online for free (in English) at the Russian web site lib.ru.

You can watch the trailer for the "Paycheck" movie at YouTube.  The movie had a few differences from the story but was still pretty good.

† - This is an affiliate link.  Learn more on my Privacy & Disclosure page.

(This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on BestScienceFictionStories.com on Sep 28th, 2009.)