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Pattern Recognition is William Gibson's eighth novel. Unlike his previous science fiction works, Pattern Recognition is a work of mainstream fiction.
This is a novel set in contemporary, post-dotcom, post 9-11 world, mostly in London. Its heroine Cayce has a psychological hypersensitivity that causes her to have allergic reactions to brands and corporate logos - which makes her the ideal advertising consultant, as the strength of her reactions indicate the hipness of a pitch or brand. The plot develops as she is drawn into a mystery surrounding snippets of film footage that are placed at random locations on the Internet for their growing base of admirers to find and puzzle over. Contains several scathing attacks on viral marketing.
The novel inspired Sonic Youth to write a song of the same title, which opens with the lyric "I'm a cool hunter making you my way" and appears on their 2004 album, Sonic Nurse.