Spook Country

This is William Gibson's most recent book and a somewhat sequel to Pattern Recognition.

I would make the argument that this is a book that has to be read slowly or by someone with ADD. At any point, there are three or four separate story lines each written in third person limited, and, unlike most authors who choose to dedicate a good amount of time to follow just one story line (such as in Lord of the Rings or the Inheritance Cycle,) Gibson makes the jump each chapter. Since chapters can be as short as one page, and generally at least under ten, this tendency can quickly wear down the reader. On the other hand, it has the benefit of not leaving the reader hanging too long after each jump, and there is no need to "go back in time" to catch up one story to the next. Whether or not this style is a critique really will depend on the reader.

A second observation, one I just realized applies somewhat to all of Gibson's books, is that the actions of the main characters are not really driving the story's plot. Rather secondary characters and characters that the reader never even see drive the plot; the main characters just get caught up in the flow, and the true story is how these personalities act in their given circumstances. The result of this is that the climaxes of this book are not when the action climaxes, but when the story lines following each character meet.

While I didn't like Spook Country as much as Pattern Recognition, it is still a very good book. Though, also like Pattern Recognition, and as I maybe indicated above, the climax is a little weak, which could definately be a problem for some readers. However, since I am a sucker for well written characters, I don't mind this critique much.

As to who should read this book......I don't actually know that I can define some certain group of people. My guess is that the people who will like this book will be able to read this review and decide for themselves (or maybe I just flatter myself with the quality of my reviews.) Regardless, read it.