CRYPTONOMICON

Big, complex and ambitious, this new cyber-thriller calls to mind Pynchon`s `Gravities Rainbow` in it`s intense, paranoid evocation of conspiracies and secret histories. Set in part during WWII, Stephenson`s novel concerns Lawrence Waterhouse, mathematical genius and code breaker extraordinaire. Assigned to the super-secret Detachment 2702, Waterhouse is instrumental in the Allied plot to keep the Nazis unaware that their fabled enigma code has been broken. Almost as a sideline, he helps trigger the computer age. Nearly 60 years later, Waterhouse`s computer hacker grandson Randy is attemptingto create a high-tech data haven in SE Asia, only to discover that a variety of governments and shadowy secret organizations want a piece of his company`s action. Uncovering evidence of a long dormant conspiracy with it`s roots partly in his grandfather`s work in cryptology, Randy eventually discovers that enourmous amounts of war gold are involved, enough to change the entire economy of the planet. This fast-paced, genre-transcending novel is full of absorbing action,witty dialogue and well-drawn characters. Amazingly, it is also the first volume in what promises to be one of the most extravagant literary creations of the turn of the millenium - and beyond.` PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW.