Virtual Light
California, the not so distant future. Berry, ex-cop/private security, looking to just make ends meet. Chevette, a young bicycle messanger. A murder, a secret missing, and a murderer closing in on Chevette. Berry is the only thing standing between him and Chevette. Can he keep her alive long enough to figure why, and how to stop it? Multi-national corporations, reality tv, a world gone just a bit more ragged than our own. Murder, mystery, real people just trying to get by or survive another day in an harsh world. Big dome private communities and shanty towns built on the discarded remains of a bridge we all know. High tech meets duct tape and superglue. With his unique style and flair, Gibson spins a tale set in a world just to the left of ours.
Themes & atmosphere
Also by William Gibson
All works by William Gibson →
What you might want to know about Virtual Light
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In a near-future Northern California after the big quake, the Bay Bridge has been taken over by squatters, and bike messenger Chevette Washington lives in a shack at its top deck.
Yes. It is the first book in William Gibson's Bridge Trilogy, followed by Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties.
Yes, though it sits in a near-future post-earthquake California rather than the chrome-and-neon Tokyo of Gibson's earlier novels. Critics call it 'softcore cyberpunk.'
Virtual Light was written by William Gibson, published in 1993 by Heyne.
Virtual Light is 320 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Virtual Light takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
Virtual Light is a standalone novel by William Gibson, not part of a series.
Virtual Light is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.