Traitor to the Living is a science fiction novel by Philip José Farmer

Philip José Farmer

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....

. The story follows Herald Childe, a private detective. Childe is also the lead character in two prior Farmer novels published as pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

 by Essex House. In this non-erotic novel, the lead character is clearly Herald Childe, but it follows the events of a never-written third book which left Childe amnesiac.

Reception

Lester del Rey

Lester del Rey

Lester del Rey was an American science fiction author and editor. Del Rey was the author of many of the Winston Science Fiction juvenile SF series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction branch of Ballantine Books, along with his fourth wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.-Birth...

found the novel to be "fascinating, and a good adventure thriller." Edgar L. Chapman described it as "a novel of serious intrigue, quite conventional in its treatment of sex," but faulted it because it "not only lacks humor, but does not create much suspense either."