This was a re-read, as I'm working up to reading his sort-of sequel to this book. I really enjoyed this book a second time through, as I had forgotten/blocked out how much this book was about 9/11 when I read it in late 2002. Set almost completely outside the States, the plot is very similar to Count Zero: a young woman tries to find the identity of a mysterious artist. The protagonist works as a cool hunter, using an unusual allergy to overly marketed things as a barometer to tell if trademarks work. Gibson's penchant for the description of branding, used to good effect in his near-future novels, lends strangeness to the way people (Americans?) use brands as external signifiers of their internal state/status. You are what you buy, after all.