The Status Civilization.

By Robert Sheckley.

Synopsis:
Will Barrent is sent to the penal planet of Omega for the crime of murder. Of course, he only has the guards' word that he did it, as his memory was wiped before he left Earth. On Omega, the prisoners have created their own society, where the only way to move up in the world is to assassinate somebody of higher class...

Review:
I didn't like this one as much as I like Sheckley's other stuff. It wasn't as funny. Usually his satirical bits are buried within the plot, rather than being the plot, as they are in this case. Not to ruin it, or anything, but the whole thing with the culture/religions of Earth and Omega seems a bit too clear-cut... And it doesn't even approach the headfuck levels of his later stuff (It's copyrighted 1960, so it's possibly one of his first books. I don't know, and I'm not going to pretend I do...), which is a shame, as he writes messed up stuff so well...