A neoclassic spy-detective work of art

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	• Spook Country William Gibson G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 141 reviews view larger image
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A neoclassic spy-detective work of art

This novel is another great piece of work by one of the truly most gifted and innovative authors writing in English for the past 25 years. Gibson's sparse, poetic style always leaves much for the reader's intelligence to fill in, consistently giving enough of a suggestion for the reader to paint the lines. Unlike the dark, futuristic sci-fi outings of his earlier novels, and more akin to his 2003 Pattern Recognition, Spook Country is set squarely in the present, a present suffused with cutting edge techno-tidbits from the world of espionage, holographs of celebrities' deaths that rely on ramped-up GPS, or the freaky lifestyle of a paranoid 3D-rendering specialist.

The heart of this story is an espionage mystery, but who is chasing whom, and to what end? The plot thickens around, on the one hand a family of Russian trained Cuban ex-pat's practicing their spy tradecraft with devotion and skill, and on the other a drug addicted kidnap victim being dragged around and controlled by a mysterious detective-type. The object of the quests of these two factions remains unknown for most of the book, but that only sweetens the mystery. There is plenty of suspense and action.

The Machiavellian uber-publisher/advertiser and seemingly omniscient manipulator from Pattern Recognition, Hubertus Bigend, puts his own horse into the race to unravel the mystery. That horse is Hollis Henry, former rock singer and aspiring journalist. The chase for what-is-sought takes us deep into the heart of motive, greed, spycraft, cultural meaning, and ultimately to a negation of the value of the object of the search. The ending, which I won't spoil, evokes that of Hammett's classic detective tale, The Maltese Falcon - also a wild search for an unknown object whose value is negated at the tale's end.

Gibson sits at a nexus that he alone seems to occupy, from he which he spins tales with deep insight into the edges of technology and their roles in shaping art, commerce, corruption, and high and not-so-high culture. And as always, he writes brilliantly.

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A Mystery? A Political Commentary?

I'm not sure why some of the negative reviewers of this book were upset about. I agree that this is not as gripping as some of Gibson's other works, but some of the complaints seem to be that he is not sticking to his past themes. I think a writer as talented as Gibson has every right to explore new directions and new approaches. You still see Gibson's finely tuned cultural eye here and there is more than a little suggestion that he sees GIS technology as evolving into more than just Geo Caching.

I tend to agree that the ending of this book left me with more than a few unresolved questions, but I'm not altogether sure that wasn't what Gibson intended. I see no reason for all books to have a `The End' sort of finish.

If you are looking for `Neuromancer' or `Count Zero' you'll be disappointed but I see the themes of `Pattern Recognition' here and was not the least disappointed. I'm giving it four stars instead of five for the ending, but that's just my opinion; it could be that I missed the point as Gibson is more often than not opaque in what he intends. For example much of this book is a comment on the conduct of the Iraqi War and the mismanagement of funds.

Like anything Gibson writes, this is worth your time and money.

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The Literature of the Digital Age

Spook Country is a compelling book in which the writing is the main attraction of the book even more so than the end. Each line in the book represents an innovative way of describing situations, characters or feelings more than the plot of an investigation of a clandestine non-descript container. The book may seem odd to some as sentences are highly constructed. But to some it is enjoyful. Spook Country picks up a character of Mr. Gibson's earliest novel 'Pattern Recognition' and same as in such book, the main cause is rather sutile. Nonetheless the reader is treated to a set of situations, artifacts, characters and different cities that are in line with our times. Spook Country same as Pattern Recognition earn a place in the way the digital age should be literary described.

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