William Gibson returns with his first novel since 2010’s New York Times–bestselling Zero History

THE PERIPHERAL
by William Gibson
Berkley, October 2014
Agent: Sterling Lord Literistic

“To read Gibson is to read the present as if it were the future.” —The New York Times

“Gibson’s radar is deftly tuned to the changes in the culture that many of us are missing.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“One of the most visionary, original, and quietly influential writers currently working.” —The Boston Globe

“Like Pynchon and DeLillo, Gibson excels at pinpointing the hidden forces that shape our world.” —Details

Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran’s benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC’s elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there’s a job he’s supposed to do—a job Flynne didn’t know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He’s supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That’s all there is to it. He’s offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn’t what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.

William Gibson is the author of Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome, Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History, and Distrust That Particular Flavor. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife.