Spook Country

Spook Country is the most realistic yet of the novels of William Gibson, an author commonly lumped into the sci-fi sector. It takes place only last year and, like Gibson’s previous novel, Pattern Recognition, combines “futuristic” technology from the pages of Wired: virtual realty, overseas shipments via cargo container, GPS surveillance and tracking and a strange preoccupation with using iPods as hard drives, which is so five-years-ago. The structure is a round-robin, alternating a chapter per main character, until the group collides at the end on the West Coast for a payoff that while, unexpected, isn’t entirely rewarding seeing how much it’s been built up to. I enjoyed a certain familiarity with New York City topography; there’s an action sequence that takes place in a geographically accurate Union Square, complete with Greenmarket and a near-showdown at the W Hotel, while a pair of other characters room at the Hotel New Yorker and eat the Gray’s Papaya two blocks north, right across the street from where I work.