Spook Country

Spook Country is the latest novel from William Gibson. I love the fact that this is a science fiction novel set in the past, in this case 2006. There is a wonderful follow up article where Mr. Gibson discusses that science fiction is not about predicting the future but a reflection of the present day. Which is something that I feel most people don't really get.

Spook Country is a double entendre which refers to the current state where the Spooks (CIA, FBI, DHS, etc.) seem to be running the country and GPS driven art where you can only see the Spooks if you have the GPS and a URL. You can really see from it's humble beginnings where the art could evolve into a number of channels that we could all tune into to overlay our own "reality". This concept is wonderfully expanded in John C Wright's The Golden Age trilogy.

The novel proceeds along telling the story from multiple points of view each one with their own plot threads that eventually begin to interweave their way to a satisfying conclusion.

Hollis Henry, former indie rocker now freelance journalist is writing a story on a new art form that exists only in virtual reality, Bobby Chombo, a GPS software specialist who provides the software that enables the virtual reality art, is tracking a mysterious cargo container that drops on and off the grid, Agent Brown is tracking a young criminal named Tito who he hopes will lead him to the cargo.

This was a real quick read for me and I highly recommend it. Especially if you are a fan of the afore mentioned Golden Age trilogy.

Misc:

Cory Doctorow reviews Spook Country.