William Gibson - Spook Country

Book Review: William Gibson - Spook Country

I was pretty disappointed with the book. The near-future genre is only interesting if the technology/societal changes are interesting in some way. The helmet technology that superimposes itself over the real world was not really all that interesting as it was only presented as generic artwork. Augmented Reality is already here and already more provocative than the glimpse we saw in Spook Country.

The thriller plot itself was reasonable, but dry. Not knowing whats going on is integral to maintain tension, but this was taken too far. Nothing happened in the first 90% of the book as far as I was concerned. That may explain why it took me months and months to finish the book. It was just too easy to put down.

The characters were unique and interesting and the alternating flow of characters and threads was handled reasonably. There was just too much weak dialog and action for my tastes. A little more violence and debauchery would have gone a long way to loosen up the story. Too many characters were stone-faced and without any interesting character flaws.

Overall, Spook Country is a plain thriller with a slow start, little action, and an uninspiring vision of the "future".