59 pages • 1 hour read
William GibsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The opening chapter introduces Flynne Fisher and her veteran brother Burton. Flynne is visiting Burton at his home, a 1977 Airstream trailer, the inside of which Burton has embalmed in a polymer that covers over everything. We learn that Burton is a former Marine and a haptic. Burton asks Flynne to sub in for him working security in a video game, a job that he has been working on the side.
The narrative shifts to the novel’s second plot line as it introduces a hungover Wilf Netherton, who is visited by Rainey’s sigil. Rainey is Wilf’s boss, and the sigil is a kind of video feed that appears before Netherton. Rainey presses Netherton about his interactions with a woman named Daedra West. Both Rainey and Netherton are publicists, and West is one of their clients. Netherton had been involved in a sexual relationship with Daedra, a fact that Rainey clearly sees as a violation. While the text does not explicitly say the year, it is assumed that this plotline takes place in the distant future.
By William Gibson