Fantastic first novel from since-disappointing writer Dave Wolverton.
OMWTP is written in the style of latin american realism, ala Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The book chronicles the adventures of a Panamanian doctor who flees Earth after being found by trouble in the form of a defector.
While the book is about his flight and subsequent adventures as a mercenary, the real story is the way in which Wolverton addresses compelling themes, such as the nature of the relationship between an individual and society, to what extent our personality is shaped by our memories, and how one is to make moral choices when one has no idea what side is "right" or "wrong."
All of that with a good cyberpunk-era sensibility regarding technology, which the protagonist takes completely for granted.
A must-read. Unfortunately, also
out of print.