Transmission follows three separate, and only tenuously linked, characters - Arjun the Indian programmer, Guy the English marketing consultant and Leela the Bollywood actress.
We start with a computer virus released into the wild and then learn the backstory of Arjun, who we (safely) assume was behind the virus. He moves from India to California, to the land of milk and honey. But nothing is ever as good as it first seems and Arjun becomes embittered by corporate America.
Guy runs the Tomorrow* marketing consultancy. He is something of a charicature - all cliches, excessive optimism and dotcom bullshit. His grip on his business, and his life, is increasingly illusory as the investors start to chase results.
Leela is a packaged product of the movie industry, dominated by her mother and uncomfortable in the limelight. Having her image as the centrepiece of a worldwide virus affects her deeply, while others suggest it was all a marketing stunt.
The book is well written, and while the disparate threads make it a little disjointed, they do gradually mesh and successfully deliver their underlying message - that everyone is owned by others, and no-one is in control of their lives.
The ending is deliciously ambiguous. Not to everyones taste, but enough for me to consider 5 stars. However, it falls short due to a slight lack of polish
4 stars (out of 5)