Man Who Staked The Stars

A powerful businessman finds his empire crumbling when an internal force begins turning his own mind against him, while external investigators close in. What begins as a straightforward case of a mobster under surveillance becomes something far more unsettling: a slow psychological unraveling where the line between self and doppelgänger dissolves. MacLean, writing at the height of her powers, weaves Cold War paranoia with sharp insights into how power corrupts perception. The protagonist isn't just fighting external forces - he's battling a version of himself that may be more real than his carefully constructed public persona. This is psychological SF at its finest: tense, intelligent, and deeply unsettling.