The attacks on Cayce continue while she is in Japan and Russia. But, she is not without resources. The daughter of a Cold War 'security specialist' who disappeared Sept. 11, 2001, she was reared with a healthy paranoia and schooled in self-defense. Ultimately, Cayce, with the help of Parkaboy, a friend from a website devoted to the footage, solves the mystery and emerges a wiser person for it.

Gibson's small cast keeps the focus on the action throughout the book. Dialogue is direct and realistic. The plot moves along at a brisk pace until the end of the book, when it slows down for some exposition.

The only homage to Gibson's role as the founding father of cyberpunk is the Internet being the locus of some of the most significant events. But for the Net, the footage could not exist. The most important clues to the mystery are found on a website devoted to the footage. Cayce and her friends and employers communicate as much by email as they do by phone and in-person. The acts of aggression that threaten Cayce involve tampering with her friend's Cube and her iBook, as well as direct action. But, the core of the novel is as much advertising and its excesses as it is computers and the Web. Only in a world where the image of an item has become more important than its utility could the events described in Pattern Recognition provide a believable jumping off place for fiction. As someone who has attended parties where I am one of few persons without a Nike or Intel tattoo, I can confirm that Gibson's take on what is to come is probably closer to fact than fiction.