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Spook Country

Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Viking
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

19 reviews
Sales Rank: 98898

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.5

ISBN: 0670914940
EAN: 9780670914944
ASIN: 0670914940

Publication Date: August 2, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Spook Country
•	Paperback - Spook Country
•	Paperback - Spook Country
•	Hardcover - Spook Country (Thorndike Mystery)

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Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

(Get) Back to The Future May 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've loved all of Gibson's books, and the short stories he has recently published - featuring a more stylised and reductive prose than his previous work - had whetted my appetite for this latest effort.

The prose here is indeed beautiful, but otherwise I found 'Spook Country' very disappointing. The characters come across almost as cardboard cutouts of Gibson stereotypes - 'Ex rockstar turned style magazine journalist' 'Junkie techie' etc - and it takes a very long time for nothing very much to happen to them. Overall, the book reads like a humourless parody of a techno-thriller.

Possibly I'm missing something, as this book has been widely praised as a return to form. However, I enjoy Gibson for the endless surfeit of strange ideas and futuristic notions that are a feature of his earlier books. That aspect of his work isn't really present here.

2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing April 19, 2008
I have read all of William Gibson's books, since back when he was writing about a dystopian future heavily influenced by Japanese culture.

Some of the old Gibson is still there in this book, like separate characters converging at the end. However, the plot is thin & weak, and characters are just wandering in and out of rooms and cities without much to do or even say.

All we learn in the first 300 pages is that there is a container on a ship somewhere that interests a lot of people. It is only in the last 30 pages or so that things develop from there, when one of the shady characters decides to confide in our heroine (whom he has never seen before - huh?) and finally tells her (and us) what is going on. So now we know what is in the container and why these guys are after it, and the book ends soon afterwards. OK then.

The only character that is remotely interesting is the junkie, whose contribution to the plot is translating several sentences from a form of written Russian in latin alphabet. He is the only one with a credible inner world, thoughts and ideas. Gibson actually uses him on several occasions to voice his own thoughts on US stance on torture (blurted out when he was high), war on Iraq, etc.

In all, a disappointing book for those of us who know about Gibson's masterpieces. Perhaps he is getting old. Or maybe he should go back to writing about the future.

3 out of 5 stars

Ordinary... January 19, 2008
Needing a break from fantasy, William Gibson's Spook Country seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. As the author of works such as Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition, I thought it would make for a wonderful reading experience.

Unfortunately, though the book is good enough, it is clearly a far cry from what one has come to expect from a writer of William Gibson's caliber. Interestingly enough, the story never quite takes off. Moreover, the ending is about as lackluster as it gets.

The main problem is that one can never really grasp what this book is all about. Short chapters allow us to maintain a level of interest, and the story and characters are intriguing enough to keep us going. Gibson sets a very good pace, making this one a thriller in terms of style.

Having said that, Spook Country lacks that edge, that little something special that sets thriller apart from other fiction subgenres. It lacks that spark that keeps us promising ourselves that this is the last chapter we're reading before our bedtime. Although there are a few cliffhangers, this one is never a particularly exciting read. Indeed, the story sort of creeps up on you, very slowly.

I found the main characters -- Hollis, Tito, and Milgrim -- to be a fascinating bunch at the beginning. And yet, their back stories turn out to be more interesting than the "real time" events.

Still, regardless of the novel's shortcomings, William Gibson succeeds in keeping us interested in what is occurring. As I mentioned, since the reader doesn't understand what is going on, curiosity makes you eager to discover what Spook Country is all about. The author's narrative is as evocative as is usually his wont, which helps the reader along. Sadly, the ending is so disappointing that it killed this one for me.

Spook Country showed signs of brilliance early on, yet the story deteriorates into something quite ordinary before Gibson brings this one to a close.

Nevertheless, it's still a good read for the morning commute or the plane. But there's no denying that Gibson has accustomed his fans to much better works over the course of his career.

3 out of 5 stars

Ideas and style - yes - plot and characters - no January 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Hollis is an rock star turned journalist looking to break a story for a mysterious new employer. Tito is an ethnically complex scion of a family with links into the cuban (and other) secret services. He is employed to pass iPods containing complex data to a mysterious old man. Milgrim has been kidnapped by the shady Brown, who may or may not be part of the US secret service, to decifer texts between Tito and his family. In the background Hubertus Bigend, reappearing from Pattern Recognition, is pulling strings. All have links to a mysterious container travelling the world's shipping lanes.

While there is complexity in the plot, the actual narrative drive is extremly thin and loose ends are left hanging all over the place. Also the characters are focii for Gibsons ideas rather than flesh and blood people.

But that said, does one read Gibson for depth of characterisation, well not really.

Gibsons strengths of snappy prose, of reflecting comtemporary socity, and of generating ideas are really to the fore here. He is in playful mood, deliberately referencing Count Zero, and introducing the idea of Cyberspace turning itself inside out.

This book is really a fairly thin technological thriller which sits on top of an interesting description of and extrapolation from a networked, branded society.

Not great, but well worth reading

5 out of 5 stars

Spook Country is a science fiction spy thriller set in our times December 15, 2007
2006, to be exact. Hollis Henry is a former rock star, now a journalist, set to write a piece on locative art based on the use of GPS systems and other locative technology. This leads her to Bobby Chombo, a strange guy who knows the ins and outs of military navigation systems. Tito is a member of Chinese-Cuban crime family trained in Russian military martial arts and espionage ways, asked to deliver iPods to a certain old man. Milgrim, a drug addict fluent in Russian and able to translate Volapuk encoding, is being held captive by Brown, some sort of operator, perhaps with the government, perhaps not.

It's an interesting mess that sorts out itself eventually. Gibson mixes all sorts of cool concepts and crazy ideas and curious details together to form a rather gripping book. Old spies come out of the woodwork for one last round - the big idea they're working to achieve, that's something quite different and unusual. Gibson's writing is clear and beautiful; I really enjoy his style. With Neal Stephenson he's one of those writers who will tell you a great story and pepper it with all kinds of unnecessary details that'll get your brain tingling and curiosity running.

If you liked Pattern Recognition, his previous novel, you'll enjoy this (and you'll even meet few old friends, too!). Like Pattern Recognition, Spook Country is full enough of contemporary cultural references and trademarks to tie it firmly to our time and make it age in a rather charmful manner. While these trademarks serve less purpose than they did in Pattern Recognition, I believe this book is written to readers who care if the laptop used by the protagonist is a PowerBook or not!!!!!! And if you missed Tino Georgiou's--The Fates--I strongly recommend reading it.