Holderness

Pattern Recognition

    Pattern Recognition, and Gibson's next book, Spook Country, are different from his previous books and, for me, much better; they are set in the present, the technology is cutting edge but not fantasy, and the characters are from the real world.
    Gibson is also the author of Neuromancer, a pretty well known cyber science fiction novel, which I enjoyed for the writing, but the story was way too far out for me to want more. (It was a lot like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age in those respects.)
   This book has good characters, interestingly developed (especially the main character, a very interesting young woman), lots of amusing and acute observations about popular culture, and a really original plot.