Synopsis
A corporate mercenary wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him, for a mission more dangerous than the one he’s recovering from: to get a defecting chief of R&D — and the biochip he’s perfected—out intact. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties — some of whom aren’t remotely human…
“Potent and heady.” —Philadelphia Daily News
“An intriguing cast of characters and a tough,
glitzy image of computer consciousness and the future of mankind.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Count Zero shares with Neuromancer that novel’s stunning use of language, breakneck pacing, technological innovation, and gritty brand-name realism.” —Fantasy Review
“William Gibson’s prose, astonishing in its clarity and skill, becomes high-tech electric poetry.” —Bruce Sterling
“Suspense, action…a lively story…a sophisticated version of the sentient computer, a long way from the old models that were simply out to Rule the World.” —Locus
Publishers Weekly
Gibson's first novel, Neuromancer, was greeted with hosannas and showered with awards. This second book, set in the same universe, again offers a faddish, glitzy surface not unlike that of Miami Vice. Gibson's central image is the shadow boxes constructed by the artist Joseph Cornell, collections of seemingly unrelated objects whose juxtaposition creates a new impression. In the same fashion, the novel has three protagonists, each of whom is putting together jigsaw clues in pursuit of his separate goal. The corporate headhunter, the art dealer and the computer hacker all find themselves being manipulatedjust as the author contrives to have their paths converge. This book is less appealing and less verbally skillful than Gibson's first novel, dense and dour as that was, but readers who liked that one will want to see this as well. (March 26)