Interface: A Novel

by Neal Stephenson, J. Frederick George

From his triumphant debut with Snow Crash to the stunning success of his latest novel, Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson has quickly become the voice of a generation. In this now-classic thriller, he and fellow author J. Frederick George tell a shocking tale with an all-too plausible premise. There's no way William A. Cozzano can lose the upcoming presidential election. He's a likable midwestern governor with one insidious advantage—an advantage provided by a shadowy group of backers. A biochip implanted in his head hardwires him to a computerized polling system. The mood of the electorate is channeled directly into his brain. Forget issues. Forget policy. Cozzano is more than the perfect candidate. He's a special effect. “Complex, entertaining, frequently funny."—Publishers Weekly“Qualifies as the sleeper of the year, the rare kind of science-fiction thriller that evokes genuine laughter while simultaneously keeping the level of suspense cranked to the max."— San Diego Union-Tribune“A Manchurian Candidate for the computer age.” —Seattle Weekly

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Thriller, Cyberpunk, Politics, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

640 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Neal Stephenson is the author of Reamde, Anathem, and the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), as well as Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

[Marty Fried · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was very entertaining all the way, although not suspenseful - but that's not surprising for this author. However, it was less technical than many of his books, so that normally puts you off, don't let it in this case, although it is slightly technical. But I thought there were some truly interesting characters, with a lot of humor throughout. Unfortunately, the most interesting character was one of the bad guys. I liked him and wasn't sure whether he was a good guy or a bad guy until the end; actually, I'm still not really sure he was such a bad guy.

Some might think the premise isn't likely or believable, but I would answer with "Are you sure?" I think perhaps the Trump fake news and misinformation coming from Washington might make this a lot more likely. Fake news rules in this story, although it was written long before the recent elections. But likely or not, it's a fun read. For those complaining that it's not on par with other Neal Stephenson books, I say "so what" and "who says?"

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written 25 years ago, this political thriller also predicted some of the future pretty well. Locations are beautifully described, and ideas are usually introduced with characters (though perhaps one too many). For me, it is a book which was tough to put down, and as fun to read as it was in the 90s.

The book is a collaboration between Neal Stephenson and his uncle, which wasn't well known when first published. Having read a lot of the former, I think I can identify some passages, but overall it flows in a smooth narrative. On this reread, it is also fun to look at some of those future predictions. GODS is quite similar to Amazon, for instance. It is also interesting to read between the lines, interpreting what the candidate says and connecting to the source - and from there back to the author (pro or con). The Strong character quite resembles our current president.

I could have done without the last character introduced (on page 526). His purpose is to show the aspect of negative campaigns, and a score of pages later he is mostly out of the story - which would have been fine without him. The appearance of all the other characters is perfect, making this anomaly that much more glaring. For me, this costs the novel half a star, but it is still highly recommended. 4½ out of 5 stars.

"All that Democrat/Republican stuff is bullshit," he said. "And as far as liberal versus conservative, well, people are very promiscuous in the way the use those words. They don't really mean anything. Within those two camps there are very wide divisions. And between those two camps, there is a lot more overlap than you think. None of that bullshit really matters. The only thing that matters is values."

[Jason Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing read - both for the science and the politics. The science came off as believable, but where this books shines is the dead right tone it gives the politics in the book. I've been working in politics and campaigns for three decades and the window this gives into that world, while not factually correct at all times, is definitely correct in capturing the essence.

And like with all Stephenson books, this delivers memorable characters and settings. There seems to be a bit more humor in this book than Stephenson usually delivers (and thus reminded me much more of Bruce Sterling).

As a DC-area native, I especially found the inclusion and description of this area to be well done and accurate for the most part.

In summary, this book provides a chilling what-if on what the confluence of technology and politics might bring about, and it does it with some humor, great characters, and a story that winds its way through many subplots while never losing sight of the goal. The descriptions of locations in the book I am familiar with were dead on, as were the descriptions of electoral politics and life within the bubble of Washington DC.


Note on the author:
I got an older copy of this from a friend and for the author it listed "Stephen Bury" and then had a little sticker on it that said "With Neal Stephenson!". So going in, I'd known Stephenson had some influence on it and it wasn't until after I finished the book that I looked up the author and saw it was a collective pseudonym for Stephenson and his uncle.

Wasn't really much of a surprise as while I was reading I ran across numerous passages where I said to myself "Man, Stephenson must have written this entire passage!" Especially for this era of Stephenson's career, this is very much true to his writing style then (first part of the '90s_.

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was much more of a political intrigue than I ever really want to read - too close to reality, too relevant to political currents from which I would like to run away and hide, even though I know that it is impossible... I am very sadly reminded of how things that were considered relevant to a political campaign in 94, even if in fictional form, are still the same today, 21 years later, and SP even mentions were points of discussion during elections 100 years before that... What does it say about us as "foreword thinking" or actually achieving any of our idealistic goals? No mater, long ago I decided that my books should have nothing in common with the politics of today and this was just a bit too-close for comfort.
Apart from my personal reservations, it was another great book by SP. He is smart and witty as always, although the book was a bit slow in development and a tad choppy. Not his best, but even in his worst SP is better that the rest of the field :)

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The other collaboration between these two authors, Cobweb, was a thriller with a message: the US government doesn't work anymore. "Ordinary" folks are the only people who get things done, usually despite the government.

Interface is also a thriller with a message: Elections don't work anymore, either. This is because of television. It takes a similar technical and stylistic approach; "ordinary" folks turn out to be really important, humour that people will recognise from Stephenson's solo novels, though less extreme or outlandish, perhaps. Unfortunately it also shares some of the weaknesses of those giant later works, e.g. too many characters, lack of urgency or narrative drive and, crucially, not much tension until exceedingly near the end. This is disappointing, since Cobweb evades most of these problems and delivers a tense final act. Even more disappointing, in that Zodiac demonstrates that at one time Stephenson could write taught, exciting fiction as well as make a point, without help from anybody else - but we're not likely to see another book from him that is less than 400p long, are we? And I just can't be bothered with another of his 1000p tomes.

Reading this book is a healthy reminder of how such manipulation is conducted, on a practical level but readers are not offered much by way of a solution to the problems of media manipulation of/by politicians in this book. I offer one idea as a way of mitigating the problem to some limited extent: don't watch TV news, ever. Listen to talk radio news, instead - by which I mean the BBC or (second best) NPR.

[Juan Hovez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started out great, with a fantastic premise and engaging characters. Went out on a bit of a whimper.

That said, I am still gorging my belly on the Neal Stephenson Kool-Aid and know the man can do no wrong. Except, apparently, when he collaborates with relatives.

San Dimas High School Football rules!

[Isca Silurum · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this was very hard work. Made worse by authors seeming very smug.

[Mirjam Celie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an enjoyable read! It hooked me right from the start; reading every day just to keep the story going.. even though it was in short stints, whenever I had the time.

I’ve never read such a convincing description of someone experiencing a stroke, by the way.

It was fun, it was very sharp for its time I guess with lots of issues that - at the moment- feel as acute now as they may have been almost thirty years ago…?

It did not disappoint.

——————

QUOTES:

“But when Cozzano moved the pen - that is, when he did the thing in his mind that, ever since he had been inside his mother's womb, had caused his fingers and his hand to move - nothing happened. His eyes tracked across the paper, anticipating the pen's course. Nothing. […]
Cozzano's hand sweated. After a while, then pen fell out of his fingers. The nib dove into the paper and slid straight across it like a plow skidding across hard prairie. It left a comet-shaped streak of blue-black on the page, whacked down flat, and rocked side to side for a few moments, making a gentle diminishing noise.
He cursed under his breath and a strange sound came out of his mouth, a garbled word he'd never heard before. It sounded so unfamiliar that he tried to look up, thinking that someone else might be in the room. But no one was here; he had spoken the word himself.
When he moved his head it threw him off balance and pulled him toward the left. His left arm had gone completely limp. He saw it slide off the desk, but he didn't quite believe it, because he didn't feel it move. The cuff link, a cheap hand-me-down from his father, popped against the sharp edge of the tabletop. Then his arm was swinging at his side, eased to a halt by the slight mechanical friction of his elbow and shoulder joints.”

——————

"People my age get their thrills by having good bowel movements, not by playing games,"

——————

"Well, I'm not sure I want to work with you."
"Eleanor Boxwood Richmond," he said, "you and I got exactly the same politics. Only thing is, you don't know it yet."
"How can you say that? I've been a liberal Democrat all my life." Still gripping her hand, Senator Marshall shook his head dismissively. "All that Democrat/Republican stuff is bullshit," he said. "And as far as liberal versus conservative, well, people are very promiscuous in the way they use those words. They don't really mean anything. Within those two camps there are very wide divisions. And between those two camps, there is a lot more overlap than you think. None of that bullshit really matters. The only thing that matters is values."

——————

"There are only five entities in the world with sufficient wisdom to pursue consistent strategies over periods of several centuries,"Lady Wilburdon said. "These entities are not national or govermental in nature - even the best governments are dangerously unstable and short-lived. Such an entity is self-preserving and self-perpetuating. A world war, or the rise and fall of an empire or an alliance such as the USSR or NATO, is no more serious, to it, than a gust of wind buffeting the sails of a clipper ship."
"What are these entities?" Eleanor said.
"In no particular order, one is the Catholic Church. One is Japan - which is nothing more than a group of zaibatsus, or major industrial combines. The third is a loose network of shtetls. After the expulsion from Spain in 1492, they forcibly realized the importance of long-range planning, and in the intervening years have accumulated formidable assets. The fourth one we don't know much about; it seems to connect many of the recalcitranty traditional cultures of the Third and Fourth Worlds and to be headquartered somewhere in Central Asia. And the fifth is the Network. It is an alliance of large investors, both individual and institutional, predominantly European and American. You might think of it as the legacy, the residue, of the East India Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, the American railway companies, Standard Oil, and the technological empires of our time. It is the most decentralized of the five entities - really just an effort to pursue investments, and certain other activities, in a coordinated fashion.”

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a number of Neal Stephenson novels. All have been deep and fascinating. All feature self-contained worlds science fiction fans can get lost in.

"Interface" is an older novel, written with a co-author a couple of years after "Snow Crash." It's science fiction set in a contemporaneous world, based on the social, political, and technological realities of its era, the mid-1990s. Some readers may scratch their heads over the novel's pre-internet technology; those of us who embraced that technology in the mid-1990s remember how exciting and promising it was, and won't have a problem with the extrapolations Stephenson bases his novel upon.

The plot is simple: a popular politician, William Cozzano, suffers a stroke; experimental tech in the form of an embedded chip helps his brain forge new pathways, allowing him to regain speech and motion, and he enters the presidential race. Ah, but there are forces behind Cozzano's recovery and campaign, and it turns out the chip is being used to control him.

We learn about these forces through different characters involved in helping Cozzano recover, because each one of them is a part of The Network, the shadowy organization behind what turns out to be an even deeper conspiracy. These characters multiply like guppies, to the point where the reader can barely differentiate between individuals, and ultimately we learn there is an even more shadowy ... and ancient ... force behind The Network. But our plucky politician, helped by his daughter and a few trusted pals ... well, I'd better not give away the store, so I'll stop there.

Neal Stephenson is a windy bastard, and this is perhaps the windiest of his novels. There are far too many characters: every one of them gets pages and pages to show us what makes them tick, and many of them are just full of folksy observations and humor. It's really too much: the novel would have been tighter and more popular if background characters stayed in the background, but no, every one of them gets a lengthy solo, padding the story to the point where the reader starts flipping pages in search of action.

The villains in "Interface" are basically decent people who think they're doing good. Many of these basically decent people are campaign workers who, while nominally working for Cozzano, are in fact controlling him on behalf of The Network. In reality, decent people are few and far between in the political world: those drawn to political campaigns are venal, spiteful, petty, small, confused, incapable of working for any purpose higher than their own aggrandizement. As Stephenson peeled back the layers of his vast worldwide conspiracy, I couldn't suspend disbelief. I started talking to the book in my lap: "this could never happen" "no way Jose," "that's bullshit."

Despite the novel's windiness and the far-fetched political conspiracy at the heart of the plot, I think parts of this novel will stay with me. Overall, an interesting if sometimes frustrating read.

[Taueret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always think authors who set their sci fi in current times and base it in real technology are, um, courageous? What's wildly bleeding-edge in 1994 sounds lame and antiquated in 2011. I guess that's the real problem with describing actual instead of "near future" technology. Luckily for my commuting sanity, the story here is ok (think mid-grade Crichton?) and knowing the awesomeness that is to come from one half of this writing duo, I can forgive nearly anything for the price of a single Audible credit.

19/2/11
Finished listening to this yesterday. Demoting it to 2 stars,because really, other than my affection for Stephenson, it doesn't have much going for it. In fact if it was by any other author I would probably give it one star. It is interesting to see how an author develops over time- this book, while crappy, touches on a lot of interesting and familiar Stephenson themes: secret power structures; currency and the relationship between events and value; technology; a female protagonist (in this case two). The story is complicated (and made overcomplicated by deus ex-ish appearances out of the blue of new characters at convenient moments) and interesting- I don't think Stephenson could be boring if he tried. It's just contrived and not very well written imo- there's a lot of using the same adjective twice in one paragraph, and "he said, she said" dialogue. It's hard to imagine the amazingly beautiful and erudite prose style of 21st century Stephenson as belonging to the same guy who penned this. OMG maybe he has had one of those implants!1!111!! (you have to read it if you want to get my lame joke).

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Приятно все же сознавать, насколько мы продвинулись за последние четверть века — вполне на собственной памяти, — читая такие книжки. В нем все «прото-» — прото-нёрды, прото-нанотехнологии, прото-политтехнологии. Читается прям как антропологический экскурс в прошлое. Но потом догоняет и накрывает Пинчон-паранойей, и на текст подсаживаешься, хотя (а может, и потому, что) роман скроен по лекалам и рецептам коммерческого чтива: главы умоподъемной длины, сцены чередуются в своем алгоритме, фигуры умолчания создают саспенс и подгоняют вперед, фонового знания дается в меру, экшн не раздражает.
Фантастики как таковой тут тоже не очень есть, вернее она — «ближнего действия по-американски», а не по-советски: т.е. все этот вполне вероятно и допустимо. Обложка да, не врет — это честный политический триллер с циничными персонажами, которые отлично знают, что делают, и умеют работать, а лучше таких персонажей я не знаю, что может быть. И еще «Интерфейс» — превосходный взгляд на то, из чего состоит «тело американской политики», о котором узнаешь больше, чем из газетных новостей (вот, я опять откатился к метафоре четвертьвековой давности — ну кто сейчас читает газеты? из фидов каких-нибудь, конечно).
Квасным патриотам читать его, конечно, совершенно бесполезно, они и слов таких не знают, как «выборы»: зазор между американским политическим сознанием и его русским отсутствием по-прежнему непреодолим. Хотя практически все фигуры на русских политических горизонтах — уже давно не люди, а спецэффекты, поэтому поди знай.

...оп-па. вот они его и не читают. на русском этого романа, оказывается, не существует.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say this was an unexpected experience would be an understatement. Stephenson and his colleague put together a story far ahead of its time (1995) filled with extraordinary characters, concepts and plot twists. Given the current dynamic of today's presidential craziness, it raises the question: Is it possible Trump has an implant? Of course not, but the concept of being electronically controlled by groups financed by the billionaire boys club isn't far reaching. The last few chapters get the heart rate up and move at lighting pace similar to a Baldacci or Brown book. I can't recommend this book enough, especially with the current political climate!

[Miloš Petrik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1994. Reads much more modern. Ending a touch too tidy (and optimstic) for my taste.

[Laura L. Van Dam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otra de esas compras vacacionales que me quedaron sin leer.

Me gustó muchísimo, mucho más que el otro technothriller de Stephenson/George que leí hace poquito, The Cobweb. La razón es que aunque sigue siendo un thriller más que una novela de ciencia ficción, tiene un porcentaje importante de (futura) tecnología y sus posibles usos y abusos, lo que lo hace muy intrigante.

Además tiene buenos personajes, escenas con mucha acción y un final a todo ritmo. La verdad, muy entretenido.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful political adventure novel, with a thin vein of science fiction running through it. If all political thrillers were this smart, snappy, funny, and thought-provoking, I would read a lot more of them. Or perhaps Clancy is a real knee-slapper and I just don't remember. But Interface follows an electoral campaign and along the way manages to ask some very profound, fundamental questions about the ethics of self-improvement and the nature of identity and life itself, all while being an enjoyable romp of a novel. The characters are well-developed and interesting (though from this and Reamde, we now know never to be a weaselly man with a problem with alcoholism who is ungallant toward women in a Stephenson novel), the story is well-paced, the plot is fiendishly clever, and the action is well-done. All this along with prose that occasionally made me chuckle out loud.

Books like these make me wonder why Stephenson's novels have not already been made into sensationally popular blockbuster movies. The bones are all there: charismatic characters, adventure, special effects, and a joyous buoyancy that doesn't worry too much about being overly pedantic. Maybe people have offered and Stephenson is just being picky, which is laudable, but this would make a phenomenal movie, one I'd love to see, and maybe it would get more people reading Stephenson. Which can only be a good thing. I recommend this book to those who already love Stephenson, and to those who don't yet know they could.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like all the things about this that I liked about Stephenson's Cryptonomicon and Reamde, and, in addition, I appreciated the lack of so much "infodump." This is just straight story-line the whole way through. Perhaps that's why it could fit in barely over 600 pages, rather than 1000+. The wry humor here is a bit different from that in Reamde: nothing really seemed implausible, but now and then, I'd find myself smiling at what had just happened or what someone said.

Most of the characters were fairly straightforward, not that complex. But I enjoyed watching them puzzle out the situation they found themselves in and figure out what to do about it. Floyd Wayne Vishniak was an exception, simply fascinating.

And the primary premise? Frighteningly, it takes only a tiny leap of imagination to believe it could all happen.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Furthering my conviction that Neal Stephenson is an amalgam of Tom Clancy, Dan Brown and electronics promotional literature. (Is there part of nerd-culture I'm not familiar with that's really into brand names? I could have done with about 10% of the references to the "Calyx" workstations that everyone sits in front of.)

But seriously, this is high-tech genre fiction: one-dimensional characters, perfunctory dialog and a by-the-numbers plot. I guess maybe it's good beach reading if you're into that kind of thing? It appears I'm not.

[Otis Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors (snow crash, cryptonomicon), but he didn't deliver in this one. Maybe because it was co-authored. The premise was interesting, and the first half of the book was actually pretty good, but then it just skipped ahead and I didn't love the ending...

[A.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and am surprised that it hasn't been made into a movie yet. It's a well-written, gripping combination of media manipulation, abuse of power and the fight of a small band of decent people trying to overcome the big guys. With a side order of intelligent humour. I had a hard time putting it down in the last two days.

[Ytje · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting, comical and biting read. If people in power -in reality- could get away with rigging the game in this enormous way, they probably would. This book has not dated one bit.

The only problem I have with this book is that it contains an embarrassing amount of spelling- and type errors. Where was the editor??

[Justin Tash · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Cautionary Tale for the Untouchable

Stephenson remains utterly unmatched in his execution of this near-future exposé about the potential of technology. As usual, he introduces and develops unforgettable characters and adds detail and color to even the most mundane settings and circumstances.
This story is one that hits rather close to home when the current political climate is taken into account. While some of the ideas are beginning to show their age (the absence of social media being the most glaringly obvious) the premise and conflict can be easily extrapolated out to our modern day. Of course, those that desperately need the lesson this book teaches seem to be immune to learning anything new and are comfortable remaining ultra-rich, über-privileged, and ultimately out of touch with reality. Regardless, it is so very satisfying to ride along with true salt of the earth people as they attempt to outsmart the powers-at-be. Another rousing success from Stephenson and his illustrious writing partner J. Fredrick George.

[LeslieFH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boy, has this book aged badly.

Its premise, "a group of shadowy rich men decide to run a third-party candidate to take over the US to ensure it pays its debt" is just so needlessly complex, when the reality of US history was that "a group of shadowy rich men bought themselves all of the Republican party and most of the Democratic party". It also ignores the immense power of tribalism and first-past-the-post electoral system combined with the electoral college (a "US presidential elections" book that ignores the Electoral College seems just plain naive in the 21st century).

As a cherry on the top it makes a throwaway reference to "post-greenhouse effect Illinois" being much warmer than in the childhood of one of the main characters, but the rest of the world remains unchanged by climate catastrophe.

(When I read it for the first time more than a decade ago I liked it so much more)

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an exciting story, entirely plausible. It's about how to use implant technology to help stroke victims. I don't think the technology is quite there yet, but I suspect it's not that far off. Once it is here, this book talks about the essential problem of whether that technology can be used to control the person its implanted in. There are some interesting ideas here. See if you agree with them, or not.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Neal Stephenson's writing but for some reason I hadn't come across this one before. Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me especially well. It was all a bit too predictable and many of the characters were not especially believable. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't especially captivating. It took me a lot longer than normal to finish this though to be fair that seems to be true for me in general since COVID hit. I'm hoping my reading pace will return to a more normal level soon.

[Jim Leckband · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Internet Age's Manchurian Candidate where instead of unreliable brainwashing by Communists we have brain implants directly manipulated by a Karl Rove-like puppet master. I gave an extra star from what would probably be a three star book because of the cynicism about the political process.

[Sequoyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing Stephenson does super well is take subjects that are inherently very interesting and make them boring

[Belarius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neal Stephenson & J. Frederick George teamed up to write Interface in 1994, and the result is unquestionably a product of that era of American politics. Seen from the modern perspective (as is often the case with "outdated" science fiction), Interface tells us a great deal more about the era in which it was written than it does about the future.

Very early in the book, during the rising action, campaign strategist Cy Ogle (a James Carville/Karl Rove/Fu Manchu hybrid) says the following, which captures the book's political world perfectly:

"We are in the Age of Scrutiny. A public figure must withstand the scrutiny of the media," Ogle said. "The President is the ultimate public figure and must stand up under ultimate scrutiny; he is like a man stretched out on a rack in the public square in some medieval @!$%#hole of a town, undergoing the rigors of the Inquisition. Like the medieval trial by ordeal, the Age of Scrutiny sneers at rational inquiry and debate, and presumes that mere oaths and protestations are deceptions and lies. The only way to discover the real truth is by the rite of the ordeal, which exposes the subject to such inhuman strain that any defect in his character wil cause him to crack wide open, like a flawed diamond. It is a mystical procedure that skirts rationality, which is seen as the work of the Devil, instead drawing down a higher, ineffable power. Like the Roman haruspex who foretold the outcome of a battle, not by analyzing the strengths of the opposing forces by groping through steaming guts of a slaughtered ram, we seek to establish a candidate's fitness for office by pinning him under the lights of a television studio and counting the number of times he blinks his eyes in a minute, deconstructing his use of eye contact, monitoring his gesticulations - whether his hands are held open or closed, toward or away from the camera, spread open forthcomingly or clenched like grasping claws."

This lengthy monologue is typical of the book, which was published before the Lewinsky scandal and before 9/11. The story is an artifact of an era where both parties were so close to center that there was no telling them apart, so the only thing that mattered was showmanship. In various tones and forms, the reader will be reminded of this political reality over and over again.

The story itself is, as mentioned above, a rehash of the Manchurian Candidate, with a twist. Independent presidential candidate William Cozzano has had a stroke, and his miraculous recovery is due to computer chips in his brain that are being tweaked by a nefarious transnational conspiracy. Effectively, Cozzano is under remote control, saying the best thing at any given moment. Meanwhile, a new "instant polling" technology reads the emotional reactions of a sample of voters in real time, so Cozzano literally respond to their concerns instantaneously. As the back of the book puts it: "Forget issues. Forget policy. Cozzano is more than the perfect candidate. He's a special effect."

This central storyline forms the spine of the book, but the narrative focus shifts constantly. At least ten characters wear the "protagonist" hat over the course of the book, which runs in many directions at once and takes a long time to get any momentum. Parts of the book resemble the very best passages of Cryptonomicon, racing at breakneck speed through really gripping subject matter. Others feel like the most amateurish moments in Stephenson's much rougher Zodiac. Whether this irregularity is due to Stephenson's relative inexperience at the time (he is clearly a much better writer now) or due to the collaboration with George is impossible to tell.

The story's narrative drive is equally irregular. Some characters (especially antagonists) are introduced but never elaborated upon, dropping like loose threads. The "main story" of the book doesn't even begin to take recognizable form until at least 1/3 of the way through the book, leaving the reader wondering in the early sections what the point of this or that tangent is. Usually, that point becomes clear over time, but not always.

Perhaps most annoying is the book's slightly self-righteous tone, especially when combined with how dated and naive its depiction of politics is. There is no question that money and media remain the deciding factors in a candidate's election, but the idea that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans was a myth from the Culture Wars. As relevant as the monologue above remains to the electoral process, it can't be the whole story, as recent election suggest. Americans do care about issues and about policy.

Despite these problems, Interface is still an amusing political thriller. Its unevenness does make it hard to predict (which is something of a plus), and ever stodgy passage is matched by a gripping one. Parts of it are brilliant. Anyone who likes their political thrillers light on the politics or their science fiction light on the science will find this book entertaining. It's a good book. But it is far from great.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 Stars
Even a watered down Stephenson book would still be considered a career best by other authors.

It's probably 200 pages too long and the there's arguably too many characters but the excellent writing and a really nutso climax really make up for the slower pace of the middle section.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old-school Neal Stephenson. Not especially innovative or wacky (although it has its moments) by Stephenson standards, but enjoyable. More of a political/medical thriller, but well done and very readable. Solid 4 stars.

[Bob Jamieson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Stephen Bury" Neal Stephenson is seriously underrated. That was a lot of fun.