Spook Country

Starred review from June 18, 2007
Set in the same high-tech present day as Pattern Recognition
, Gibson’s fine ninth novel offers startling insights into our paranoid and often fragmented, postmodern world. When a mysterious, not yet actual magazine, Node
, hires former indie rocker–turned–journalist Hollis Henry to do a story on a new art form that exists only in virtual reality, Hollis finds herself investigating something considerably more dangerous. An operative named Brown, who may or may not work for the U.S. government, is tracking a young, Russian-speaking Cuban-Chinese criminal named Tito. Brown’s goal is to follow Tito to yet another operative known only as the old man. Meanwhile, a mysterious cargo container with CIA connections repeatedly appears and disappears on the worldwide Global Positioning network, never quite coming to port. At the heart of the dark goings-on is Bobby Chombo, a talented but unbalanced specialist in Global Positioning software who refuses to sleep in the same spot two nights running. Compelling characters and crisp action sequences, plus the author’s trademark metaphoric language, help make this one of Gibson’s best. 8-city author tour.

Starred review from July 1, 2007
The characters in Gibson's latest novel (after "Pattern Recognition") live in the present, but the future is catching up to them faster than to the rest of us. Hollis Henry, the former lead singer of a cult rock band who has turned to journalism to make a living, gets an assignment from a mysterious magazine so new that it doesn't even exist yet. The story, about an underground art movement, leads her to investigate a mysterious shipping container whose unknown contents have attracted a Belgian billionaire, a family of Cuban spies, and the U.S. government. Thrown into the mix are such surreal details as Santerí a coexisting with sophisticated computer codes and instant messaging in a makeshift Cyrillicnot to mention a virtual giant squid. Part thriller, part spy novel, part speculative fiction, Gibson's provocative work is like nothing you have ever read before. Highly recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 4/1/07.]Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 29, 2007
Robertson Dean’s deep, soothing tones anchor this post-9/11 thriller, a follow-up to Pattern Recognition
. Told from three third-person perspectives, the story concerns a journalist backed by a mysterious Belgian industrialist, a young Cuban-Chinese go-to guy from a secretive clan of criminals, and a junkie fluent in Russian, who get caught up in a search for a mysterious shipping container. Gibson reinvents the concept he made famous in his landmark SF novel, Neuromancer
—i.e., cyberspace—creating a more nuanced and up-to-date relationship between the virtual and the real. For Gibson, the nature of the quest object is almost beside the point; it merely serves as a spark for a series of cleverly orchestrated confrontations and interesting meditations about the world and where it’s headed. In a novel that’s light on dialogue and heavy on narration and interior monologue, Dean doesn’t need to create distinct, accented voices. He provides reflective calm for Gibson’s musings, and clarity to detailed, complex action scenes. Although there are a few strange mispronunciations, this is, on the whole, a smooth, intelligent recording of an intriguing and gripping book. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Reviews, June 18).