Mir

Mir, Alexander Besher, Simon and Schuster, 1998

This novel takes place in the middle of the next century. Earth has become a world where millions of people live in virtual reality full time.It's also a place where the Cold War has returned, in cyberspace, pitting different operating systems against each other. It comes complete with concentration camps and drugs that can, continually and permanently, recreate the despair of the gulag inside a person's head.

Someone on the Net has created a deadly virus called Mir, which has moved into human reality. It's carried by sentient tattoos, which can move around a person's body and carry out tasks on the Net, the latest thing among the cyber-hip. Just before its host is gunned down in the south of France, the tattoo leaps onto a woman named Nelly, who, unknowingly, takes it to San Francisco.

She is followed by a bunch of adversaries, including Chinese, Japanese and the Russian Mafia, all of whom want Mir very much.

This turns into a futuristic thriller combined with science fiction and Besher handles each half really well. It's cyberpunk enough for anyone, and there's a good story with real characters, too. It is well worth reading.