Count Zero [Mass Market Paperback]

William Gibson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 1987

Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whom aren't remotely human.

Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. Until he meets the angel.

A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whom aren't remotely human.

Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer

From Publishers Weekly

Gibson's first novel, Neuromancer, was greeted with hosannas and showered with awards. This second book, set in the same universe, again offers a faddish, glitzy surface not unlike that of Miami Vice. Gibson's central image is the shadow boxes constructed by the artist Joseph Cornell, collections of seemingly unrelated objects whose juxtaposition creates a new impression. In the same fashion, the novel has three protagonists, each of whom is putting together jigsaw clues in pursuit of his separate goal. The corporate headhunter, the art dealer and the computer hacker all find themselves being manipulatedjust as the author contrives to have their paths converge. This book is less appealing and less verbally skillful than Gibson's first novel, dense and dour as that was, but readers who liked that one will want to see this as well.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ace; 1St Edition edition (April 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441117732
• ISBN-13: 978-0441117734
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.8 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Gibson was born in the United States in 1948. In 1972 he moved to Vancouver, Canada, after four years spent in Toronto. He is married with two children.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#78 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#78 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Might just be Gibson's best ... September 14, 2003

By Chris Moriarty, author of SPIN STATE (Bantam 2003)

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I first read this book (many years and many rereads ago) with low expectations. I'd been told that Gibson was a one book wonder, that he'd never managed to pull off a second book nearly as good as his brilliant first novel, NEUROMANCER. Gibson beat that rap, of course, with masterpieces like IDORU and PATTERN RECOGNITION. But somehow COUNT ZERO has always gotten ever so slightly lost in the shuffle.

Well, I'm here to tell you that everyone, starting with Publishers Weekly, got it wrong. COUNT ZERO is no mere repeat of Neuromancer. It's a different beast altogether. It's older, subtler, and stranger. It's Neuromancer's hard-boiled street chic all grown up and with grown-up-sized problems. The characters are real, complex, and unforgettable. And the central image of the book - though I can't describe it without giving much of the plot away - generates one of the most hauntingly beautiful moments in all of science fiction.

If you're one of those Gibson fans who hasn't quite gotten around to reading COUNT ZERO, you're in for a rare treat.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good sciebce-fiction work November 17, 2000

By Frat Çng

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The first paragraph of this book sets the narrative tone for the rest of the work, indeed, it is the trademark style of William Gibson and his growing body of science fiction work. Turner is a mercenary in a not-to-distant future earth civilization. In this networked world, multinational mega-corporations, with names like Maas Biolabs and Hosaka wield enormous power especially over the network and the cyberspace world it encompasses.

In these corporations, genius scientists have lifetime contracts. They are well-paid prisoners of these giant enterprises. One such scientist, Christopher Mitchell, a man credited with creating the biochip, a replacement for the silicon chip, wants to leave his current employer Mass Biolabs and join rival Hosaka. The latter commissioned a reconstituted Turner with the job of bringing Mitchell safely out. "It took the Dutchman and his team three months to put Turner together again," the author writes. "They cloned a square meter of skin for him, grew it on slabs of collagen and shark-cartilage polysaccharides. They bought eyes and genitals on the open market. The eyes were green."

Count Zero is the second in a trilogy Gibson has created based on a networked society. The three books explore the notion of information as a life force unto itself that can be stored, manipulated, and evolved into different life forms. In the telling of his tales, Gibson introduces the reader to a rich assortment of unforgettable characters.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read sequel to Neuromancer December 12, 2000

By Russell S Crown

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Picking up where Neuromancer left off, I can understand why Count Zero was Gibson's favorite of the Sprawl series. He continues to combine cyberpunk with a sense of biopunk, capturing the reader from page one with a description of doctors rebuilding an agent from a description and body parts bought on the black market.

We then watch as three seemingly separate story lines unfold, wait to see how Gibson is going to bring them all together. This book deals with everyone from rising cowboy, to top Hosaka agent, to struggling artist, to super rich vat dweller. I felt that the ending could have maybe been a little better, but did pull all three story lines and almost every major character together for one dynamic finish.

I love to watch the interaction of Gibson's characters, as he is always creating dark and different characters that are often hated by the readers. I guess that is what I like about them. They're real characters they one would expect to find in the slums of the Sprawl, or working for Neotech, not just stereotype heroes.

Throwing in hot cyberdecks, double-agents, lots of drugs, more awesome biotechnology, combined with Gibson's unique characters, this book is a must read for any fan of Neuromancer, Gibson, or Cyberpunk.