'' Spook Country '' is a 2007 novel by speculative fiction author William Gibson . A political thriller set in contemporary North America , it followed on from the author 's previous novel , '' Pattern Recognition '' ( 2003 ) , and was succeeded in 2010 by '' Zero History '' , which featured much of the same core cast of characters . The plot comprises the intersecting tales of three protagonists : Hollis Henry , a musician-turned-journalist researching a story on locative art ; Tito , a young Cuban-Chinese operative whose family is on occasion in the employ of a renegade ex-CIA agent ; and Milgrim , a drug-addled translator held captive by Brown , a strangely authoritarian and secretive man . Themes explored include the ubiquity of locative technology , the eversion of cyberspace and the political climate of the United States in the aftermath of the September 11 , 2001 attacks
September 11 , 2001 attacks
September 11 attacks
Spook Country