Zero History

William Gibson

Sep 2010 · Blue Ant Book 3 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Hollis Henry never intended to work for global marketing magnate Hubertus Bigend again. But now she’s broke, and Bigend has just the thing to get her back in the game...
 
Milgrim can disappear in almost any setting, and his Russian is perfectly idiomatic—so much so that he spoke it with his therapist in the secret Swiss clinic where Bigend paid for him to be cured of his addiction...
 
Garreth doesn't owe Bigend a thing. But he does have friends from whom he can call in the kinds of favors powerful people need when things go sideways...
 
They all have something Bigend wants as he finds himself outmaneuvered and adrift, after a Department of Defense contract for combat-wear turns out to be the gateway drug for arms dealers so shadowy they can out-Bigend Bigend himself.

“Zero History is [Gibson’s] best yet, a triumph of science fiction as social criticism and adventure.”—BoingBoing.net

Ratings and reviews

The book describes a quest for military fashion. It is a character-driven continuation from the previous two novels which includes recent economic context. They have distinct manners and voices and are each chasing their own cultural trends. The title is about a character who has no credit record and the news assumes a death spiral. There is a lot of depth. Cool is yet unadvertised. Expert at their tradecraft, the players tend to go rogue. The setting is described in detail, London is like an “intricate antique toy … bought at auction”. Brand images from realworld things are compared like apps made from root code or true worth. It includes authentic samples of elite terminology. Locative art became augmented reality. Tracking is ubiquitous. The big ant figurine symbol shows up in luggage. There are eighty-seven chapters. Point-of-view changes among the major characters other than Big End. The audiobook lends it a voiceover quality.

The Blue Ant books are a far cry from his cyberpunk, but have really grown on me. Intensely descriptive, interesting characters, wry observations. Thoroughly recommended.

Feels contrived, had to chug to finish it.

About the author

William Gibson’s first novel, Neuromancer, won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of Count Zero, Burning Chrome, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History, Distrust That Particular Flavor, and The Peripheral. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife.