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Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Thriller.
HTML:“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End
/> In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up company that’s just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise.
The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual “economies” are going to crash hard.
For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security….… (more)
This is my favorite Charles Stross book, and that is saying something. I just re-read it after a 4-year gap, and I found it even better the second time around. The plot is so twisty, the high-tech details so thick and the narrative style so rich (or, to some peoples' thinking, confusing) that even knowing the basic plot, it was still a rollercoaster ride.
One note: some friends who listened to this on audiobook complained that it was difficult to follow. Even though the narrator was apparently quite good, the fact that the story is told from 3 different viewpoints and one uses Scottish idiom and accent contributed to their puzzlement. ( )
With a creak of floor-boards, Elaine sits down beside you on the futon, graceful and elegant as only a gawky collection of librarian-shaped elbows and knees can be. ( )
I wanted more character and setting goodness than I got. Early on I really enjoyed the "Scottishness" of the characters' inner monologues, but the plot kind of muscled that out of the way. ( )
An entertaining romp through the intersection of online gaming, spycraft, and policework. The style was a mishmash of heavy Scottish accents and British slang, with multiple POV characters each told in second person, which I found baffling at first but then delightful. It was strange and hard to follow but, well, it's the author's choice isn't it? And turned out to be rather fun. ( )
This is his tightest-plotted novel to date, a detective story with a million perfectly meshed moving parts, and a hundred magnificent surprises that had me gasping and shouting YES.
In memory of Datacash Ltd. and all who sailed in her, 1997-2000
Books do not get written in majestic isolation, and this one is no exception. Certainly it wouldn't exist in its current form without valuable feedback from a host of readers. I'd particularly like to thank Vernor Vinge, Hugh Hancock, Greg Costikyan, Ron Avitzur, Eric Raymond, Tony Quirke, Robert Sneddon, Paul Friday, Dave Bush, Alexander Chane Austin, Larry Colen, Harry Payne, Trey Palmer, Dave Clements, Andrew Veitch, Hannu Rajaniemi, Soon Lee, and Jarrod Russell. I'd also like to thank my other test readers, too numerous to thank today. Finally, thanks to the publishing folks without whom the book wouldn't have been written: my agent, Caitlin Blasdell, my editor at Ace, Ginjer Buchanan, and my copyeditors, Bob and Sara Schwager.
Hello. We're Round Peg/Round Hole Recruitment. We want to offer you a job on behalf of one of our clients.
Quotations
You're a grown-up, these days. You don't wear a kamikaze pilot's rising sun headband and a tee-shirt that screams DEBUG THIS! and you don't spend your weekends competing in extreme programming slams at a windy campsite near Frankfurt, but it's generally difficult for you to use any machine that doesn't have at least one compiler installed: In fact, you had to stick Python on your phone before you even opened its address book because not being able to brainwash it left you feeling handicapped, like you were a passenger instead of a pilot. In another age you would have been a railway mechanic or a grease monkey crawling over the spark plugs of a DC-3. This is what you are, and the sad fact is, they can put the code monkey in a suit but they can't take the code out of the monkey.
Last words
Please, note that this Deal needs utmost confidentiality and observe suitable secrecy.
Fiction.
Science Fiction.
Thriller.
HTML:“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End
In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up company that’s just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise.
The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual “economies” are going to crash hard.
For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security….
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Book description
"In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates, a dot-com start-up company that's just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith's expertise." "The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all their virtual "economies" are going to crash hard." "For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players - both real and pixilated - who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head's fantasy financial security."--BOOK JACKET
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This is my favorite Charles Stross book, and that is saying something. I just re-read it after a 4-year gap, and I found it even better the second time around. The plot is so twisty, the high-tech details so thick and the narrative style so rich (or, to some peoples' thinking, confusing) that even knowing the basic plot, it was still a rollercoaster ride.
One note: some friends who listened to this on audiobook complained that it was difficult to follow. Even though the narrator was apparently quite good, the fact that the story is told from 3 different viewpoints and one uses Scottish idiom and accent contributed to their puzzlement. (