Reamde

It's been a while since I stayed up way too late to finish a book because I couldn't put it down.  Neal Stephenson's Reamde ended that streak of mine.  I won't belabor the plot since you can read about it anywhere, but a quick summary is that Mr. Stephenson weaves MMORPGs, Russian mobsters, Chinese virus writers, terrorists, and American isolationists into a wonderfully complex tale that brings together people from all over the globe who would in no way otherwise mix.  It's a book that takes a hold of you and won't let go.  The action moves quite quickly from one scene to the next and always has you wondering what is next.

The one minor quibble I have is that there are way too many threads and storylines and they all wind up way too neatly to sit well with me.  But even still, that's just a teensy tiny thing and, in the overall, it's an absolutely fantastic read.