# good fictional books based around computers/internet/message boards **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934 "2004-01-06T02:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/1 "2004-01-06T02:20:28Z")
I was reading a story about this guy investigating strange disappearences and occurences with his email. It was pretty good, and it got me thinking: Are there any good fictional books based around computers/internet/message boards? By computers, I mean more in the modern sense. Not science fiction monoliths that threaten to destroy earth or anything like that. An example of this would be a book that IIRC was about a guy tracking a murderer thru a message board. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Matrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Red\_Matrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Matrix)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/2 "2004-01-06T02:57:44Z")
That would be awesome! Hey, nice name Aslan. I love the chronicals of Narnia! I notice you don’t have a SIG line… and perhaps you could use a quote sig… so here, this is for you! **Aslan of Narnia** King of the Jungle, ruler of realms, I pay thee homage! ---
**Author:** ![WereOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ac91a4/32.png) [@WereOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WereOtter)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/3 "2004-01-06T03:12:02Z")
**Pattern Recognition** by William Gibson is a thriller set in the very near future. It’s about the search for the author of a series of mysterious video clips that are being uploaded to the internet. Highly recommended! ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/4 "2004-01-06T03:22:35Z")
Darn, I was going to say Pattern Recognition. Everything else I’ve read has been a bit cheesy and not really grasped the millieu so well. ---
**Author:** ![Ura-Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/5 "2004-01-06T11:01:30Z")
The third of Neal Stephenson’s **Cryptonomicon** that was set in the modern world had a fair amount of net-based stuff in it. If you can ignore the two modern romances (which range from not very good to downright embarrassing) it’s very good, and the writing style is so much fun that it’s easy to forgive. Very reminiscent of George Alec Effinger. Which is a good thing. The other two thirds (set in WW2 from two different perspectives) are a lot of fun as well. And you have to love any book where both the heroes and the final villain were all members of the same D&D group in college. Gibson’s **Idoru** had some virtual chatroom parts, but was a bit weak I thought. And it’s anglicized ‘idol,’ dammit. It’s not even PRONOUNCED idoru . . – I guess it’s better than putting a u after every o in the middle of the word. But not much. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/6 "2004-01-06T11:03:29Z")
About a third of Neal Stephensons **Cryptonomicon** is contemporary and computer/cryptography based, not a 100% match with the OP but a bloody good yarn. (Bloody long too). ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/7 "2004-01-06T11:04:49Z")
Snap! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/8 "2004-01-06T11:07:23Z")
Dunno any good stuff, but I can give you a bad one: Don DeLillo’s depiction of the Internet in _Underworld_ was so bad it made me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/9 "2004-01-06T12:35:53Z")
One book in particular by Val Mcdermid - Killing in the Shadows - has the heroine logging onto gossip sites and using message boards populated by shadowy internet people(!) around the world to find out what the hell is going on. McDermid seems to be called VL McDermid in the US, so maybe she is in canada too. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-fictional-books-based-around-computers-internet-message-boards/222934/10 "2004-01-06T12:43:47Z")
[Michael Connelly](http://www.michaelconnelly.com) published _The Poet_ which features an internet paedophile ring. Under About the author at his site is reference to his 2000 TV series _Level 9_ about cyberspace cops.