Pattern Recognition
Author: William Gibson
Amazon info
One standard test of an author is does their work stand up to repeated reading. My test this time, was does their work stand up to sequential reading. Immediately upon finishing "All Tomorrow's Parties", I read "Pattern Recognition".
I felt the writing style held up, but the story line wasn't quite as gripping as "All Tomorrow's Parties". In fact, when starting this entry, I couldn't remember anything about the story, even though I just read it a few days ago.
The story was quite different than ATP, in that it was sent in the present or near present and, while always technical, was a relatively low-tech Gibson novel. Sure, there was encryption (steganographic style) and much computer espionage - including keystroke logging, but this was far more of a marketing story. In fact, this was a little closer to a "mystery" rather than a "sci-fi".
Overall, quite enjoyable, but perhaps not a mainstream Gibson novel such as ATP - although both novels share the line "Suck me raw with a breast pump" - how strange.