Review: Spook Country

Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, now has his feet firmly planted on the cutting edge of the present, where artists work in virtual reality, drug addicts crave Ativan and iPods are old hat.

Hollis Henry, former punk rocker turned journalist, has been recruited by a new, as yet nonexistent and suspiciously secretive, magazine, “Node,” to write an inaugural piece on what artists are doing with GPS and the Internet. As Hollis views virtual installations of dead celebrities in L.A. the irony of the military-artistic complex is obvious but not cozy, at least not yet.

But when the artist introduces her to his technical producer, an agoraphobic paranoid who maps his warehouse home in GPS squares and refuses to sleep in the same square twice, Hollis gets a glimpse of something bigger.

Meanwhile, in New York, a thuggish spook named Brown tracks Tito, a 22-year-old Russian-speaking Cuban-Chinese who passes mysterious iPods to a mysterious, taciturn old man. Tito assumes the old man cannot be as poor and insignificant as he looks if he is doing business with Tito’s powerful crime-family uncles.

And Milgrim, Brown’s Russian-speaking captive, assumes Brown is a government spook. Addicted to anti-anxiety drugs, Milgrim discovers a new wellspring of curiosity in himself when his favored Ativan is replaced by a Japanese generic.

So what’s it all about? Well, there’s a mysterious cargo container somewhere on a ship, intermittently traceable through GPS. Belgian mogul Hubertus Bigend (fans will remember him from “Pattern Recognition”), the backer behind “Node”, would like Hollis to help him home in on it.

Referencing spy-thriller technology and political uglies while keeping the book’s feel a step into the future, Gibson brings the threads of his plot together in a satisfying conclusion. Sharp, colorful writing, intriguing characters and a page-turning, well-organized plot make this a thoroughly enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Lynn Harnett

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: Spook Country

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.