Pattern Recognition

In this novel, Cayce Pollard is a design consultant who has the ability to recognize which logos and other designs will be successful, but does not have a conscious understanding of how she makes such judgments. The ability is probably connected in some way with her strong reaction to certain commercial logos and symbols, an aversion that developed during childhood and which has been highly resistant to therapy.

Cayce also has an unusual avocation: collecting and analyzing "footage" found on various network servers. This "footage" seems to be segments of a visual presentation involving a man and a woman in unidentifiable locations. Cayce is a member of a chat group @ Fetish:Footage:Forum which is also dedicated to the discover of the origin and purpose of this "footage".

Cayce is based in New York, but travels to London to meet with Blue Ant, a client who wants an opinion on a new logo. Cayce stays at the new home of a friend, Damien, who is on a shoot in Russia. Cayce sees London as the mirror world, so alike yet so different. In contrast, she would probably see Canada as being so similar to the USA that it is much like another state. On the other hand, Tokyo is so wildly different that it cant possibly mirror the USA.

The following day, Cayce attends the meeting with her client and finds Dorotea Benedetti, representative of the design group that produced the logo, strangely hostile, even to the point of covertly burning a hole in Cayces reproduced bomber jacket. When she returns to her Damiens place, Cayce discovers that someone has gotten in, despite the door lock and dead bolt, and has accessed Damiens computer system. She pushes redial on the phone and gets Doroteas answering machine.

Later, Hubertus Bigend, owner of Blue Ant, asks Cayce to track down the origin of the "footage" for him. As she travels to various locations, including Tokyo, Cayce encounters other strange and hostile events.

Cayce is the daughter of a security consultant, Win Pollard, who was apparently last seen taking a cab in the direction of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. Although Win is presumed dead in the terrorist attack or its aftermath, Cayce and her mother are having a hard time getting the insurance company to settle their claims. Since there was no body, Cayce still hasnt been able to grieve for her father.

As misfortune and malice dog her footsteps, however, Cayce remembers more and more of the knowledge imparted by Win and manages to outwit her persecutors. At the end of the book, she still isnt certain whether if her father is alive or dead, but is able to accept the possibility of his death with both sadness and pride.

This novel has a surreal ambiance, much like Blade Runner, that creates a feeling of disassociation and confusion. It is as if the reader is sharing the jet lag that impairs Cayces mental alertness at several points in the books. Part of the effect results from the polyglot mixture of characters that Cayce meets in London and elsewhere, a sort of vicarious cultural shock. Some of it comes from the interleaving of the real and the cyber worlds, yet the network access only involves chat and email.

This novel is stylistically and contextually interesting. Although I had my doubts in the beginning, the plot and characters gradually became more enthralling until I just had to finish the book. And I can assure you that I enjoyed the experience.

Highly recommended to Gibson fans and anyone else who enjoys high tech mysteries with a strong feel of a global network community.