And despite Doctorow’s assurance… The Peripheral is strikingly beautiful (thanks in no less part to Chloë Moretz), possibly the best mise en abyme novel of the century to date, while its Agency sidequel, taking place in supposedly the more placid world where Hillary had secured her emails, looks, honestly… like a Dem Party propaganda piece. Ash to ashes, DoST to dust.

Waiting for a concluding third item through Years of the Jackpot (2020 — ). Zero History was, after all, a definite return to form for Gibson after Spook Country. I thought once that Pattern Recognition would have remained the crown achievement for him in post-Patriot Act age, but the next trilogy started, and The Peripheral had managed to overcome my worries.