I'm glad I was only lent this, as it's pretty darn poor. The plot is, basically, murder at an alternative reality game company, solved by crowd-sourcing. I'm onto a loser already with ARGs and crowd-sourcing, as I respect them about as much as Doctorow's attempts at reputation economies. However, suspending that disbelief, it's still pretty naff.
It's a silly book, and is supposed to be satirical, but I don't think that's quite the full excuse. The plot is simultaneously predictable and unbelievable, which is a fair achievement. Maybe it's supposed to be damning indictment of the shallowness of the lives of the characters, but all the aesthetic descriptions - people, places, food, etc., supply inane but uninteresting detail that makes me just not care. I could go on.
Hey ho, I've read worse books. I don't resent the time I spent reading it.
Posted 2010-09-03.