Spook Country

By: William Gibson

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Tito is in his early 20s. Born in Cuba, he speaks fluent Russian, lives in one room in a NoLita warehouse, and does delicate jobs involving information transfer.

Hollis Henry is an investigative journalist, on assignment from a magazine called Node. Node doesn't exist yet, which is fine; she's used to that. But it seems to be actively blocking the kind of buzz that magazines normally cultivate before they start up. Really actively blocking it. It's odd, even a little scary, if Hollis lets herself think about it much - which she doesn't. She can't afford to.

Milgrim is a junkie. A high-end junkie, hooked on prescription antianxiety drugs. Milgrim figures he wouldn't survive 24 hours if Brown, the mystery man who saved him from a misunderstanding with his dealer, ever stopped supplying those little bubble packs. What exactly Brown is up to Milgrim can't say, but it seems to be military in nature. At least, Milgrim's very nuanced Russian would seem to be a big part of it, as would breaking into locked rooms.

Bobby Chombo is a "producer" and an enigma. In his day job, Bobby is a troubleshooter for manufacturers of military navigation equipment. He refuses to sleep in the same place twice. He meets no one. Hollis Henry has been told to find him.

©2007 William Gibson (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. and Books on Tape. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Part thriller, part spy novel, part speculative fiction, Gibson’s provocative work is like nothing you have ever read before.” (Library Journal)

"Set in the same high-tech present day as Pattern Recognition, Gibson’s fine ninth novel offers startling insights into our paranoid and often fragmented postmodern world....Compelling characters and crisp action sequences, plus the author’s trademark metaphoric language, help make this one of Gibson’s best.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review])

"Gibson excels as usual in creating an off-kilter atmosphere of vague menace.” (Kirkus Reviews)

An experience not to be missed!

What made the experience of listening to Spook Country the most enjoyable?

Once in a great while a book comes along that transcends the events written about and explains something of deep and cosmic importance. I was stunned by the real story, uncoiling like an invisible serpent of stars, behind the "on the page" story of a woman hired to possibly write for a new magazine, and a parallel story of intrigue amongst a motley collection of spies.

What did you like best about this story?

This is Hollis in Wonderland as told by Gibson, a sci-fi cyber punk writer of epic proportions. I am practically obsessed with this book, both in print and the audio read in an intimate and engaging way by the incomparable Robertson Dean.

Which character – as performed by Robertson Dean – was your favorite?

Milgrim, although I have to say I loved them all.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story is interdimensional, with so many levels to explore I can get lost in a single sentence like a maze that opens doors in my own mind. I didn't just read this book, I experienced it like a psychedelic trip down a white Lego lined rabbit hole.

Any additional comments?

These stories coil around each other like a DNA helix to create a new being, a glimpse into a future that could go very wrong or incredibly right. The biggest book, in terms of impact, that I have read in decades. I consider it a classic.

Gibson's weakest story yet.

I've been taking Gibson's novels in order of release. Oddly, I thought Pattern recognition was his best because of the primary heroine and the way he pulled 9/11 together in a way that held meaning in 2022 post pandemic. This one however lacks strong direction or characters and the performance is a baratone bland with poor accents. Gibson continues to attempt and fail at writing latino characters and cultures.

Full of ideas, but feels unfinished

***1/2

Part techno-thriller, part future prognostication, and part examination of the weird intersections of media, post-9/11 paranoia, reality, artifice, and cyberspace, Spook Country is a thought-provoking book, if not as compelling a one as I might have hoped. It's interesting to absorb the bemused viewpoint of the author who coined the word "cyberspace" twenty-five years ago, who seems to understand the concept now less as a trippy second reality and more as an extension *of* reality. Into this gestalt, both Gibson and his characters seem to come as wandering spirits from twentieth century orders, trying to remap a world that shifts beneath them as a new century gets underway.

Gibson is a good writer, with a dry, understated wit, and the ability to write characters who feel like inhabitants of today living in tomorrow without being an overbearing hipster about it. Unfortunately, though, some of the characters feel like sketches and the "thriller" aspect of the book is a bit of a snoozer. Though it begins involvingly enough, the novel doesn't shake the impression of being a set of loose ideas not fully fleshed out. The underlying conspiracy is too fuzzy to be gripping, and the end feels rushed.

Still, I'd like to read Pattern Recognition and whatever Gibson writes next.

stunning visual storytelling

Where does Spook Country rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A truly memorable audiobook.

What did you like best about this story?

Gibson paints scenes so expansive in concept, I've thought about them for months afterwards.

Have you listened to any of Robertson Dean’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I hadn't heard of Roberston Dean. He's now on my favorites list.

Any additional comments?

Dean's calm, even voice delivers humor and sarcasm with perfect subtlety.

Character-driven contemporary cyberthriller

Very much feeling like a sequel or a parallel story to Pattern Recognition, Spook Country finds Gibson honing his new contemporary style. I really think that it's in these two books that he's finally come into his own.

While Pattern Recognition in many ways was a contemporary cyberpunk novel, this novel strays further into character development and character study, with great results. The plot is perhaps less immediately arresting than Pattern Recognition's, and the main character less oddly unique. However, all of the supporting characters truly shine, fascinatingly sketched and engaging. It's really one of the few stories I've read in a long time which presented the material from multiple viewpoints anchored to multipl characters where there were no characters that I disliked and no chapters that I wanted to rush through to get back to my favourite storyline.

The way the loose threads are ultimately gathered up is slightly more coincidental and convenient than in PR, but ultimately I think more satisfying, for the triumphs are more personal and you wind up feeling for the all of the people of this story.

A really engaging read. I listened to the audiobook version, read by Robertson Dean, and he did a magnificent job, a slick, polished flatness to his voice that suited the text brilliantly while still providing enough characterization to make the characters each pop out.

Two thumbs up. :)

Great prose, complex and entertaining plot

Pattern Recognition was a dream-like story with a wild and complex plot that never quite resolved itself (for me). Spook Country starts out the same and then becomes a more direct plot with a kick. It's futuristic, but it could happen today. It's a mystery, but it's totally plausible. The prose is inventive, but it's totally understandable. It's a great book.

Disapointed

This book kept me just interested enough to then disappoint me whenever the story seemed to build into something riveting only to fall flat on its face with convoluted plot lines and unnecessary, bloated wording.
Good premise, bad execution.

Good story

Be a great movie someday. A bit convoluted but that's what you expect. The good descriptions by Gibson

Not Classic Gibson

Do not pick this one up if you are seeking a story that follows the Gibson of the past century because this is not him...

Despite that glaring fact the story is, without putting too fine a point on the departure from genre, a very easy to listen to romp through classic spydom without the violence, car chases, secret pen guns or... Well... Any of the gadgets that make spies cool.

In the end if you give this book a chance you will find an easy to digest story about people you just cannot really bring yourself to identify with or care about.

I gave it 4 Stars because it is a proper story that was well executed by the narrator and despite its lack of depth retains its entertainment value. If it had not cost me an Audible Credit I might have given it five stars... Maybe...

Not the most typical Gibson but still a great stor

Neuromancer count zero interrupt Mona Lisa Overdrive these are some of the stories were used to reading from William Gibson like other BlueAnt books he devolves from his classic cyberpunk roots into something a little less futuristic but still well generated characters and settings.