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story identification - What book has criminals wear a ring?


I remember reading one of my father's books when I was younger. It was about a guy who ended up getting in trouble with the law and was required to wear a ring that could not be removed and would shock the wearer any time they committed a crime (No matter how minor.)


The book was probably published in the early to mid 80s. I thought the name of the book was 'The Ring', but I am unable to locate anything. The cover had a car with a single wheel driving on a metal I-beam.



Answer



Your memory is right. The book is The Ring by Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff. The story follows one Jeff Font who has returned from space to get revenge on the man responsible for his family's exile. He is caught, convicted, and inflicted with the eponymous technology, which shocks him when he even considers a criminal act with the shocks getting worse as he actually attempts it.


The cover in question



The cover was actually mildly accurate in that there is a scene where he drives a monowheel vehicle down a girder, fighting the shocks he's getting because he's technically disobeying traffic laws.


Just for the sake of future people searching for the story, one of the scenes that stuck in my memory over the years involved a party with wealthy people where they voluntarily take a drug that gives them a strong hypnotic suggestion. One guest was convinced their hands were their feet and their feet hands, leading to them trying to serve drinks while walking on their hands, and the end of a scene having a woman molested by proxy by a suggestion of her hand corresponding to her genitals and it being repeatedly pushed into by the suggester's finger.


I want to say that there's a climax involving a political rally, or a concert, and a conspiracy to start a riot, but it's been a while since I actually read the book.


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