Time for an old Sci-Fi classic.
With this book William Gibson defined the subgenre ‚Cyberpunk‘ in the world of Science Fiction. Literature in this genre plays with technological advances in mostly dystopian universes, depicting how societies and their protagonists deal with new technology. In this book Gibson introduces the concept of cyberspace into the world of fiction, quite visonary in the middle of the Eighties.
We follow the story of Case, a hacker, small-time gangster, drug-addict, getting by with criminal activities such as online fraud or stealing data. And one day he gets involved in something bigger and this is what the whole story is about, which I don´t want to spoil, because its a really good one. Actually the story is the main point which makes this an excellent read, it is fast paced, always to the point, contains some turns, without stressing believability and besides the main plot also has a love story woven into. Case meets Molly and they both seem to be made for one another, both develop a crack for each other, but I´m also not gonna tell how it turns out in the end.
Besides his excellent storytelling and character development his world-building is also nothing short of brilliant, the reader at once feels at home, can smell the dirt on the streets, feel the disharmonic society with its technological advancement from which only the few profit.
Neuromancer is the first book in the Sprawl-Trilogy and if I remember correctly the other two stories are also top-notch stuff, I´m thinking about reading them too. But Neuromacer is cleary the most iconic of these. So, if you´re into Science-Fiction, especially into cyberpunk (think of Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Richard Morgan) the this is an absolute must-read, no discussion. And if you like good storytelling and enjoy reading thrillers then I can also only highly recommend giving this a shot.