I confess that I’m one of many people who have not read William Gibson’s first novel, “Neuromancer,” so I had little more than the cover art and blurbs on which to build preconceptions when I sat down to read this book.

“Neuromancer,” according to Wikipedia, is one of the seminal works of cyberpunk science fiction, some of which I’ve enjoyed very much.

But “Spook Country” is not science fiction. In fact, it more resembles highly tech-oriented noir.

The book begins with a former rock musician — still famous in the story — named Hollis Henry, who is trying to get started as a journalist. In her first big assignment, she visits the scene of River Phoenix’s death with an artist who asks her to don a visor that looks like a welder’s face-guard. She then sees a three-dimensional virtual-reality recreation of Phoenix’s death scene.

This brings us into the concept of linking virtual reality with global positioning systems, creating the possibility of somehow inhabiting a world that is not at all what it seems.

The story has two other main arcs.

One of these involves Tito, a member of a Cuban-Chinese immigrant family plying quasi-mystical espionage skills in New York and elsewhere.

Another arc involves a drug addict named Milgrim and some kind of cop (Narcotics? Anti-terrorist? Definitely federal) named Brown.

They all come together in a rigidly planned coup de grace that leaves you satisfied that justice has been done, but a little disappointed at its sterility of action and emotion.

So, should you read it?

Hard to say.

If you’re fascinated by the latest trends in GPS, virtual reality and politics, it’s worth the $15.

If you’re looking for something unique, either in style or subject matter, that will stand the test of time — i.e., something that will change your life — skip it.