The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

By: Robert A. Heinlein

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Jonathan Hoag has a curious problem. Every evening, he finds a mysterious reddish substance under his fingernails, with no memory what he was doing during the day to get it there. Jonathan hires the husband and wife detective team of Ted and Cynthia Randall to follow him during the day and find out. But Ted and Cynthia find themselves instantly out of their depth. Jonathan leaves no fingerprints. His few memories about his profession turn out to be false. Even stranger, Ted and Cynthia's own memories of what happens during their investigation do not match. There is a thirteenth floor to Jonathan's building that does not exist, there are mysterious and threatening beings living inside mirrors, and all of reality is not what they thought it was. Part supernatural thriller, part noir detective story, Heinlein's trip down the rabbit hole leads where you never expected.

©2003 the Robert A. & Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

Part supernatural thriller, part noir detective story, Heinlein's trip down the rabbit hole leads where you never expected. Currently in development to be a feature film.
"One of the grand masters of science fiction." ( Wall Street Journal)
"The most influential science fiction writer of all time!" ( Locus)

Interesting :)

Minor details do date the story (a tad bit), in a quaint way. BUT...the other thing that "dates" it, is the "out of the box" thinking that this period of sci-fi writers did quite well. A balance is struck between the ways the story could be called "dated"... and the latter wins (in my book). LOL. BIGtime :)

Very strange story. Unique for early "sci-fi"

Great narration of a really weird story. Very unlike any other "sci-fi" from the 40's and 50's I'd read before. There was almost something magical about the narrative. It was weird. If the alien elements of the story had been played up a little more, I think I would've been more into it.

1950's Detective Sci Fi at it finest!

If you could sum up The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag in three words, what would they be?

Three word summation: Smoke and mirrors...Maybe that's what "reality" actually is.

What other book might you compare The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag to and why?

Robert Heinlein wrote the classic "Stranger In A Strange Land" as well as a later work, "Job", and I could see thematic elements of both these later novels in "The Unpleasent Profession Of Jonathan Hoag." I started reading sci fi by reading some of my dad's collection of '40's/'50's pulp magazines such "Astounding Stores", "Worlds Of If", "Analog" etc. and this novel was reminiscent of many of those old stores. As I listened to this story unfold, I was picturing an old black and white movie shot in the late 1940's. I always enjoyed those old mysteries! The revelation of what Mr. Hoag actually was up to immediately brought to mind an episode of The Twilight Zone, and a certain Stephen King story which shall remain unnamed because if I named it, you'd have the mystery solved before you read the the book!

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene was when Ted Randall is brought before The Son's Of The Bird and warned against have any dealings with Mr. Hoag. And of course the last few scenes where what Mr. Hoag has been up to is finally revealed were also very enjoyable.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Having read this book decades ago, my main reaction was the pleasure of rediscovering a good old Robert Heinlein yarn as only R.H. can spin them.

Any additional comments?

For my money, there are few authors of speculative fiction, living or dead, who have written such a thoroughly enjoyable body of work as Robert Heinlein. I look forward to listening to them all again!

fan

I'm a fan. I love his writing. I like the sense of humor .. clever. think the narrator is perfect for this book

Great Novella!

Completed one of my periodic re-readings of Robert Heinlein's "The Unpleasant Profession of Johnathan Hoag".
This is one of my favorite of his novellas. It has so many interesting elements, from the properties of mirrors to the concept of the Art Critic for the gods. This story is just packed full of jems. Starting with the broad concepts and filtering down to the delightful interactions between the married couple who are the viewpoint characters.
While it will never supplant "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" as my favorite Heinlein story, it rates very close to the top.
There is a reason that I re-read this every couple of years.
In short, The Bubba Likes it. Do recommend.

Good, not great

I'm not a huge fan of Heinlein, but I took a chance on this one. I wasn't terribly surprised...I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.

The plot goes as follows: Jonathan Hoag seems to have no memory of his job---he doesn't know what he does for a living and seems to have no memory of working hours. So, he hires a husband-and-wife detective agency to tail him when he goes to work, but they get tangled in a larger and more confusing mess...

As an adventure tale, the story is only so-so. There is some interesting discourse on dreams, memory and perception on the nature of reality...themes that would be explored more thoroughly by Philip K. Dick a few decades later.

Overall, I think the story was reasonably well-written, with the mystery unfolding slowly. I did find the ending somewhat unsatisfying.

Tom Weiner did a really good job as the narrator.

Not Heinlein's best but still very good

This isn't as much science fiction as 30s Detective meets supernatural. As long as you don't mind the genre shift from his primary work, it is enjoyable and if course well written.

A reminder of how versatile Heinlein could be

This novella was a change of pace for Heinlein. It's NOT a story of the future, NOT concerned with space exploration, and does NOT bear a political message. Rather, it starts out like an old-fashioned noir and ends up in “X-Files” territory.

Ironically, for me, rereading with disappointment many of the Heinlein works I loved many decades ago as a high schooler, this is one of the very few that still hold up rather nicely. Yes, it’s dated in many ways, it begins to drag a bit around the middle, and its characters don’t always behave the way normal intelligent human beings would. Nonetheless, its highly original basic premise, and some of its scenes and images, have remained pleasurably in my memory for more than half a century, and it was fun to re-encounter them.

Brilliant Sci-Fi Detective Action!

Any additional comments?

This is truly such a unique story that I believe it would translate into an excellent film. It's not often that you see the cross between detective mystery fiction and sci-fi, but it honestly REALLY works. The book is only around a 4 hour listen but TOTALLY worth the price of a credit. You won't be sorry you listened to this one.

9.5 / 10

Pleasantly surprised by this one

I enjoy Heinlein occasionally, but was surprised when reading this that it really felt like a Philip K Dick story.

I recommend going in with as little foreknowledge as possible and just enjoy the ride. The payoff at the end is exceptional