Charlie Stross’ Halting State is a little more tame than Stross’ typical conceptually overpopulated prose. But not by much. It wasn’t quite as affecting as The Atrocity Archives, but a ripping yarn nonetheless.
The kernel of the story is built around a multi-million dollar heist within a virtual world. Set in near future Edinburgh, the heist reverberates throughout multiple spheres in the “real” world. One of the strengths of Halting State is the realistic construction of a world in which virtual reality and augmented reality have intertwined with daily life. The seeds of this transformation are already here today and Stross convincingly projects them forward to some reasonable conclusions.
As a combination of a police procedural and techno thriller, there are plenty of surprises along the way, although I found the resolution and denouement to be a bit unsatisfying. Also, the appearance of the Men-in-Black in the middle of the story seemed a bit over the top and bolted on.
There’s a sweet, for a nerd techno thriller, little love story threaded through Halting State. I didn’t quite bond with the characters enough to get much out of it though. There wasn’t enough backstory on Elaine to fully flesh her out. Then again, you don’t really pick up a Stross book for the romance.
Still, of the authors I’ve read this year, Stross has been the most consistently entertaining and challenging. Halting State is another worthy contribution.