In William Gibson's Spook Country, a stern federal security agent keeps prisoner a valuable addict who can translate Volapuk in order to track some Russian speaking illegal Cuban immigrants whose elderly leader is employing a tense computer genius, Bobby Chombo, to hide a truckload of contraband. Hollis Henry, a former rock star, now journalist, who is employed by a British magazine to ivestigate the new phenomenon of locative art (art that only be seen with a special helmet) drops gently into Bobby's world and immediately senses that Bobby is hiding more than art.

Gibson's short, intense chapters, multiple points of view, sharp dialogue and flickering references to the past reel the reader in quickly to a technology-rich, dessicated L.A. Gibson is a master of tiny details that evoke a near future (or is it our present day?) which seems entirely possible. As the American characters end up in Vancouver, they sense their uneasy foreigness and are caught off-guard by Canada's beauty and safety.

This fabulous literary thriller reads like a movie and no doubt will be one soon. Read it first: the book is always better, and this will be one of the best ones you'll read this year.

Previously:

Chadwick's Review of Spook Country

William Gibson Virtual Reading "Sells Out"

Gibson To Take Second Life Plunge