Eastern Standard Tribe

Eastern Standard Tribe, Cory Doctorow, Tor Books, 2004

Here is a near-future novel about an industrial saboteur who finds himself on the roof of an insane asylum near Boston.

In a 24-hour, instant communication world the need for sleep is the only thing that hasn't changed. The world is splintering into tribes based on time zones; those in other time zones will be at lunch or sleeping when you need them. Only those in your own time zone can be depended upon.

Art lives in London, and he works for a European telecommunications mega-corporation. His "real job" is to make life as difficult as possible for those in the Greenwich Mean Tribe by inserting user-hostile software wherever he can. Of course, other tribes are doing the same thing to Art's "home tribe," the Eastern Standard Tribe.

Art is also working on managing data flow along the Massachusetts Turnpike. Most cars have some sort of onboard computer on which songs are stored, sometimes tens of thousands of songs. Art comes up with a system  for wireless transfer of songs between cars, while they are driving on the Mass Pike. Art's business partner, Fede, sends him to Boston to sign an agreement selling the system to a local company. After several days of being told to wait, while "details" are being finalized, Art realizes that he is being screwed by Fede, and Art's girlfriend, Linda. The two met when Art hit her with his car in London. That is how Art finds himself on the roof of a forty-floor insane asylum near Boston; Fede and Linda had him committed there.

As with any Doctorow novel, this book is full of interesting ideas. It's easy to read, very plausible and very much recommended.