Rule 34

Stross is one of my favorite authors. Saturn's Children was a good read, and Halting State was flat out brilliant. Rule 34 is even better.

Each chapter takes the second person viewpoint of a different character, and is told in the second person. This is an uncommon approach, but Stross pulls it off and after the first few chapters it seems natural.

Each character appears unrelated at the start and their actions gradually start to affect each other. Each sees how events progress from a different angle and are unable to piece things together, but if the reader is attentive patterns start to emerge. This makes for a really fun read.

Like Halting State, Rule 34 is also set in a reasonable near future. We see 3D printers, self-driving cars, police life-logging everything and filtering massive amounts of data to make a case, and spam. Always spam. New tech is not just dumped into the world either, Stross has deeply reasoned out the effect on society. He does not just show how things might be different twenty years from today, but how people might differ.

A must read.