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Pattern Recognition (2003)

  Cayce Pollard consults for a hip ad agency based in London. She falls under the spell of a strange body of fragmentary footage found on the Internet and embarks on a global search for the mysterious auteur. ¶

'Pattern Recognition' is William Gibson's first story set in the present day. The story takes place in London, Tokyo and Russia one year after the September 11th terror attacks, to which the protagonist has a personal connection. The plot is far more straightforward than his previous novel and told solely from the protagonists view. The storyline points toward many things people actually do with computers in our time, and Gibson's prose is brilliant and original as ever. ¶

As an obvious hommage to 'Neuromancer', the protagonist's name, 'Cayce', is pronounced as 'Case'. The novel will be released by Putnam on February 3rd, 2003, as confirmed by Gibson's editor. An official site is also said to be in the works for the launch of the new novel. I decided to put up an excerpt (chapter 3) for previewing, which introduces the special sensitivity of the protagonist and the main theme, the mysterious footage. ¶