re:mote voices: literature

Title: Pattern Recognition
Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Viking

Pattern Recognition is the seventh novel by William Gibson, a book he assures is a stand alone novel, not fitting into a trilogy like his previous novels. Gibson really created a name for himself with the Sprawl Trilogy - Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive being the definitive Cyber Punk novels. With the Bridge Trilogy - Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties - Gibson moved closer to the present. Pattern Recognition is firm present form, though with the way these things work by the time it was published it was recent past.

Cayce Pollard is a woman in her early thirties. A "cool-hunter" and consultant for the advertising and marketing industry. Arriving in London to make use of her unique sensitivity to judge a proposed new logo for one of the big manufacturers of trainers. Cayce Pollard has an acute sense of pattern recognition, to the extent that she experiences physical reactions to logos and product that has saturated the globalized culture.

One of Cayce's passions relates to a series of film clips, which have appeared on the internet. She spends her online time on the Fetish:Footage:Forum discussing the finer points of these clips and how they fit together as a bigger picture. Arriving in London it turns out the ad agency has found out about the footage and wants her to help them find the maker of the footage. Recognising it as a memetic sensation, a cult following growing on the internet through a unique vector that the agency wants to exploit. This puts Cayce in a difficult position - possibly sell out her big interest to the very people who are contaminating public spaces with the items that make her ill, or turn down the opportunity to find out the truth behind her personal obsession.

Pattern Recognition doesn't need the levels of technological speculation expected in Gibson's work. The constant presence of cutting edge mobile phones and laptops provides everything on that front, just as the online communities reflect the extensions at work in Idoru. The core plot of mysterious maker and rich backer sending an expert on a quest to reveal all is a familiar one in Gibson's work, some might suggest it has become something of a formula. Regardless it is Gibson's ability with words that really makes him stand out from his peers. It is Gibson's ability with words that so many fail to imitate for all that they riff of the vibe that he set up at the start. The fact that the delivery of the ideas and characters in each new book seduces the reader as well is obviously another considerable factor in Gibson's success.

Pattern Recognition was a work in progress at the time of the terrorist attacks on the world trade centre. With that Pattern Recognition was changed forever in the same way that the lives of so many people were. Faced with the choice of scrapping what had been written to that point or coming to terms with those events, Gibson decided to come to term with those events in Pattern Recognition. As such the ripples are felt throughout Pattern Recognition, Cayce being from New York, her father having disappeared in the hours that followed. To some the references and flash backs that deal with this sub plot will seem tacked on, perhaps sitting awkwardly, but then the event by its nature is one that will feel funny regardless of who tackles the aftermath. For others these events are likely to bring more life to Cayce than the no-logo-backlash that is as central to what makes this woman. The feelings of uncertainty that Cayce retains at the blank in her life left by her father's disappearance must be one that contains a certain resonance in the wake of terrorist acts of that level.

Pattern Recognition fits well in the wave to the present that Gibson has established with the seismic event that was Neuromancer. As with Virtual Light there will be people that won't be happy with Pattern Recognition because it isn't another Neuromancer. It is also just as likely that there will be some unhappy because Pattern Recognition isn't another Virtual Light. Separating yourself from the past is a good idea when approaching Pattern Recognition, a good way to appreciate the patterns and the cast of characters which Cayce interacts with. Here is to more stand-alone novels where William Gibson continues to shine with his ability with words.

RVWR: PTR
June 2003