Gibson's protagonist, Cayce Pollard, uses detachment from one's soul as a metaphor for the physical and mental effects of jet-lag (she supposes that the soul can't travel as fast as a jet, so it takes some time to catch up with you when you travel). Getting the hang of reading Gibson's prose is not unlike this feeling of disorientation. His descriptions of ordinary things are ornate, colorful, and always a little bit twisted, so that you feel a bit out of place until you get used to his style.

Up until now, Gibson's novels have been set in the future, but Pattern Recognition takes place in present day. The novel follows Cayce as she tracks down the elusive maker of "the footage", a set of disjoint film segments that has garnered a global following in various internet chat rooms and the attention of a wealthy entrepeneur. The mystery itself isn't all that compelling, but the characters are interesting, and there are a few interesting plot elements. This is the first novel I've read that's explicitly set in a post-9/11 world (one of the themes is Cayce's coming-to-terms with the disappearance of her father in Manhattan on that day), and Gibson treats it well. Although I was a little bit disappointed by the conclusion, I was quite satisfied by the journey.