Perhaps the most noticeable innovation in Mona Lisa Overdrive is Gibson's use of four converging plots that come together primarily through the character of Sally Shears and the development of the kidnapping attempt on Angie Mitchell. Through these plots Gibson is also able to develop four distinctive settings that help highlight cultural differences. The four plots involve (1) Kumiko Yanaka's trip to the Smoke to escape the political intrigue of the Yakuza in Japan, (2) Slick Henry's Dog Solitude existence in rustbelt New Jersey, (3) Angie Mitchell's retreat to Malibu afte r drug therapy, and (4) Mona's travels in the Sprawl during her reincarnation into Angie. The plots alternate chapters until the middle of the novel when they begin to converge on the location of Dog Solitude. Kumiko is kept somewhat separate (and safe) from the kidnapping as she observes events from London.

Gibson, in a novel that takes place fourteen years...