Search - Pattern Recognition

The first of William Gibson's usually futuristic novels to be set in the present, Pattern Recognition is a masterful snapshot of modern consumer culture and hipster esoterica. Set in London, Tokyo, and Moscow, Pattern Recognition takes the reader on a tour of a global village inhabited by power-hungry marketeers, industrial saboteurs, high-end hackers, Russian mob bosses, Internet fan-boys, techno archeologists, washed-out spies, cultural documentarians, and our heroine Cayce Pollard--a soothsaying "cool hunter" with an allergy to brand names.
Pollard is among a cult-like group of Internet obsessives that strives to find meaning and patterns within a mysterious collection of video moments, merely called "the footage," let loose onto the Internet by an unknown source. Her hobby and work collide when a megalomaniac client hires her to track down whoever is behind the footage. Cayce's quest will take her in and out of harm's way in a high-stakes game that ultimately coincides with her desire to reconcile her father’s disappearance during the September 11 attacks in New York.

Although he forgoes his usual future-think tactics, this is very much a William Gibson novel, more so for fans who realize that Gibson's brilliance lies not in constructing new futures but in using astute observations of present-day cultural flotsam to create those futures. With Pattern Recognition, Gibson skips the extrapolation and focuses his acumen on our confusing contemporary world, using the precocious Pollard to personify and humanize the uncertain anxiety, optimistic hope, and downright fear many feel when looking to the future. The novel is filled with Gibson's lyric descriptions and astute observations of modern life, making it worth the read for both cool hunters and their prey.
(Amazon Review)

Reading Gibson's later works I always thought he'd drifted away from his "Cyberpunk" roots, this novel shows that he is still capable of writing readable fiction when he tries.

Willam Gibson follows a talented young woman through a classically Gibson permutation of our social and economic structures. Reluctant and far too cool, our girl threads through the heavily woven plot to the resolution with attitude and grace. Look for Gibson's sweet kicks on the back cover.

Although I enjoyed Pattern Recognition, I think Idoru is a better book of this type. Pattern Recognition seems like a dated look into the future, just 7 years after it was published. It is also a bit more convoluted with a less well-explained dénouement than Idoru. However, it is still a quick, enjoyable read - with a degree of tenderness I find refreshingly surprising in Gibson.

Loved this futuristic impression of life... Left me wanting to live some more of the characters lives!

I just can't deal with William Gibson's writing style. I could not deal with it twenty-five years ago when _Neuromancer_ came out, and I can't deal with it now as I tried this book.

The flow is choppy and practically incoherent. He tries much too hard to slice into a genre of his own. Judging by his following, he has succeeded. However, just like with modern art, some see the genius of the artist and some see snot on canvas. I simply don't grok it. Perhaps I will try again in another twenty five years.