Halting State [52 Books #3]

Well, I was explaining to my father a few weeks before that books are written in perspectives. First person perspective is 'through the eyes' and immediate. Third person is remote, over-the-shoulder and provides greater view. I explained you really will never find a book written in Second person, and lo, here comes the new book by Chalie Stross.

Halting State gave me a rough read. I started, stopped, started, stopped again, then when I was faced with another book boring me too much to continue I returned to Halting State. I tripped heavily over the use of Second person perspective, even knowing – I assumed – why the author used it. I was close, but ultimately wrong. While first person (“I ducked to the right as his fist went over my head – God he was fast. I needed to get out of here now!”) and third person (“Arleen stood on the ivy-covered wall, looking at the house across the overgrown yard, lost in thought of what she had to do”) are commonly used in writing, second person perspective (“You step into the room, a dozen business-suited employees looking up at you. Their eyes glance over and pause at the badge on your chest. They grow colder, and you know it's going to be a long meeting.”) is almost unheard of outside online chatrooms, and MMOs. But Stross uses it to good effect in Halting State, and I eventually, by the halfway point of the book, came to read it naturally.

The concept of the novel: within a decade a bank is robbed. It's a bank of a fantasy kingdom inside an MMO, and the theft may be of imaginary items but the damage to the company's reputation could be near a hundred million euros when their stock collapses. 'You' the first is a Scottish police office investigating the robbery, coping with the fact you don't have a clue what the techies are saying, dealing with the fact a horde of orcs made off with nothing but binding pointers. Another 'you' is a financial accountant called in to audit the company, the third 'you' is a programmer hired by the accountant to cover her lack of technical skills. It's confusing at first, yes, but each chapter is clear and you can get into the groove; if you've liked Charlie Stross's other works about the upcoming future and the tech industry don't let the style stop you from enjoying this one.

It's a well-written mystery-drama, dealing with issues we can barely see on the horizon today, as Stross does so well. The initial theft is the tip of a significant iceberg, and the end feels much like his earlier works, 'The Atrocity Archive' and 'The Jennifer Morgue', minus the supernatural elements of those novels. In other words it's got some great tech and great spywork.