Gibson, William: Mona Lisa Overdrive

Mona Lisa Overdrive is the third book in William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy. These books (Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive) were written in the 1980′s and there’s a small sense of the time difference in what we now might think of the future. But for the most part, I still think he’s hit the nail on the head for a believable future world. There aren’t flying cars or transporter pads, but there is a ballooning population (The Sprawl) and heavy cyberspace espionage. The trilogy follows some mercenary-for-hire types of characters, battling against unfathomably rich and powerful people and corporations. The concept of artificial intelligence, its emergence, and threat to humanity has a strong effect on the story line. I’m already about half way through this one, and can’t wait to see how he decides to end it.