Neuromancer  by William Gibson

 

This is book 1 of the Sprawl series.

 

Neuromancer won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick awards (in or about 1985).

 

This is one of those gritty stories taking place in the fringes of society, among the outcasts and people living outside "normal" lifestyles.  I'm not sure that "noir" would be the right word, but at least it has some things in common with it.  There's "cyber-adventure", "cyber-crime" and other intrigue.  The unfolding of just exactly what the protagonist, Case, has been hired to do (and later how the scheme will turn out) gives a quasi-mystery feel to it.  What he's been hired for resembles a heist job - so it may appeal to those who like heist stories.

 

The book maintains a good pace, a sense of adventure and atmosphere.  The book was written 25 years ago.  It may not be as impressive to readers today as it was when it first came out, but it's still worth reading.

 

The story takes place in a future where AI's of limited ability are not uncommon.  However, fears of what unfettered AI's might do has lead to legal requirements that AI's be limited and restricted in their actions.  Those regulations are enforced by the Turing Police.

 

Case and a few others have been assembled into a team to get into the facilities of a company.  The company had begun some research many years ago, and then transferred its headquarters to an orbital habitat.  Since then the company has been relatively quiet.

 

Case's talent has been connecting his brain to computer networks and getting around in the network.  It was actually like an addiction, until he got on the wrong side of an underworld figure.  Part of his punishment was being altered so he could no longer connect his brain.  Case is talked into joining the scheme by being offered a way to restore the ability.

 

Molly's strength is more getting things done in person.  Another member of the team has a psychic power to make others see illusions.  And one of the first parts of the scheme is to steal a storage device containing the personality of an expert at hacking into computer systems.  "He" becomes another member of the team.

 

Along the way we see various aspects of this future.  There's a Rastafarian community that lives in orbit in order to be away from the "Babylon" below.  A couple of members of that community also assist in the scheme.

 

An important part of the book is the underlying question of AI's and the issues of having them restricted or unrestricted.  (Having AI's be relatively independent, but guided by something like Asimov's Laws of Robotics does not play a role here.)  That is what could have made the book stronger in terms of ideas.  However, what unrestricted AI's would be like or do is only discussed to some degree as an issue that has been thought about but not tried out in practice.  I found it somewhat disappointing to have the question raised, but no alternatives significantly explored in a scenario.  We may have some hints, and perhaps more is said in later books in the series.

 

Although it isn’t deep on ideas, it is an atmospheric adventure / heist story.

 

 

 

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