I believe this was the only novel by Neal Stephenson that I hadn't read, so, in the interest of completism, of course I had to read it.
Sadly, I have to admit, it wasn't that good.
Being dated was part of it - it's a political thriller, and well, we know know more about Saddam and his alleged WMDs than Stephenson did when he wrote it.
Stephenson's main point here is: Foreign grad students in the sciences could actually be plants working for enemy governments, using our labs and resources to create bioweapons right here on US ground.
Discovering this plot is a small-town Iowa Good Cop, who (in an interesting twist) becomes friends with a Turkish militant, and seeks to foil the Iraqis.
From the other side of things, a low-level CIA analyst who's a Good Mormon Girl also uncovers evidence of shady goings on - and for her efforts, nearly loses her job and any hope of a career.
Unfortunately, all the governmental higher-ups are too busy worrying about politics to get things done...
The characterizations in the story are really fun (love the drunken Russian pilots) - but there were too many cliches and too much random paranoia. The other novel published under this pseudonym (Interface) was better.

Huge huge Stephenson fan. This book, not so much. I can't complain about the out-dated nature, the book was from the late 80s/early 90s, and pertains to the first Iraq war from a "what-if" scenario regarding WMDs, bio-terrorism, political maneuvering, and the subversion of our intelligence community.

Early Stephenson could have used more character development of characters other than the main few who had adequate development, but the side stories which develop the less important characters that are in his later books were missing.

Recommend if you like Stephenson and liked some of his earlier stuff. Pass if you don't.

The Cobweb is not a sci-fi story, just a fiction thriller. It happens in modern day America, where a small town cop slowly unravels a plot of international proportions and implications. He has to foil it with no help from (or rather against) the corrupted systems of university academia and government security and diplomatic agencies.

Actually, this is the main subject of the book, if I can say so: Throat cutting internal politics inside the CIA, the rule that CIA operations cannot take place inside the borders of the USA, and they ways to bend that rule, university scholarship stewards that live off foreign student exchanges (real or not) and bogus grants, etc. It was a bleak picture, the one painted of the CIA employees who cannot exceed their assigned duty, even if they have plenty of reason to, else face career stop or even dismissal.

In the end, of course, Deputy Sheriff Clyde Banks saves the day, but I can't help noticing that I knew this would happen from the very start. The real information is in the path to the end result and that is what I've appreciated in this book. The reader is taken away to discover the filthy world Stephenson and George expose.

It starts a little slow. It also provides plenty of information for would be terrorists :) So I recommend it to everyone, even if it is not a sci-fi book, it's a solid well made story.

I have a great time reading, or in this case listening to, books that have terrorists meet up with deputy sheriffs in northeast Iowa and getting thoroughly trounced. The fictional Iowa towns and the people in them were spot on for characterizations. The main characters were likable and smart. Much more so than the government types that were only looking to keep their jobs. I know more about Balkan turks than I did before. It was an entertaining romp on the path that led up to the first Iraq war where the major points were scored by Midwestern farm boys and GIRLS.

Did not love the way that male main characters get introduced with their full names, professions, idiosyncratic characteristics, etc. but the female main character is introduced with a physical description first, and her name only pages later. And even then it's just her first name.
Did not love that one of the only Black characters is described as "articulate."

Did love the depiction of baby care, including breastfeeding. In a political thriller! Written by dudes! (Maybe that's why they could get it published.)

I thoroughly enjoyed Neal Stephenson's Zodiac and Snow Crash, and loved The Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon. I completely & totally bounced off of the Baroque novels. I put the first one down at about page 300, only to have a friend tell me that "it really picks up after about page 400". Sorry, nothing should be that bloated.

The two novels that he wrote with his uncle, and published under the name Stephen Bury, are The Cobweb and Interface. I really enjoyed both these books when I originally read them, and when I was putting together a survival pack of paperbacks to read during our move, I put them in. I just finished The Cobweb, and loved it again. It has a suspenseful plot involving biological warfare, academic shenanigans with grant money, and CIA/FBI political infighting. I like me some suspense, but what makes me love this book are the characters, and the observations about people and cultures.

Part of the action takes place in a fictionalized Ames, Iowa. It's told from the perspective of a sheriff's deputy, Clyde, who becomes friends with a foreign grad student, and is seeing some odd things happening, all while dealing with his wife being called up by the Army reservers and caring for their baby. His campaign for sheriff is very funny, as is juggling stake-outs and a baby.

The rest of the action is in Washington, D.C., told by Betsy Vandeventer. She's an analyst at the CIA, and she "exceeds her task" and spots the games being played with money going to Iraq for agricultural assistance. She's a nice girl from Idaho, who is trying to shake off some of the nice. I kinda love that one of the main characters in the book is a young woman who is overweight.

One of the scenes I love is when a mucky-muck from D.C. meets with Clyde at a restaurant in Ames. Clyde is very uncomfortable when Hennessy ignores the "Please wait to be seated" sign, and walks over to a big booth that's out of earshot of the other diners. Clyde feels that everyone is looking at the 2 of them taking up a booth that should be saved for a bigger party. They happen to be discussing a plot for biological weapons, but that doesn't mean you should be rude Another scene is Hennessy managing to take control over someone else's meeting in Washington, by being quieter than anyone else. It's delicious observation of people's behavior.

The book is set just before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and was published in 1996.

This is the second book by this combination of writers (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George), and it is still in the category of mainstream thriller involving political intrigue. The story takes place during the run-up to the first Gulf War. The premise of the story is that part of Saddam's biological warfare production was being done at various universities in the US with Iraqi exchange students using funding from the US gov't. Much of the action takes place in the Midwest, and the characters are better drawn than the first novel by this combination of writers. Well done.

This is the worst book I've read in a long while. Boring and cookie cutter characters, combined with a story and POV that would only appeal to Americans. Basically this is like the plot of something I would have expected from a die hard movie. NS is one of my favourite authors so I'm appalled he co-wrote this book. It's dropped my impression of him from prophet to... Oh yeah he writes some really good stuff and there was that one bad one.

I came across this book about a year ago in Barnes & Noble, and I'd never heard of it. Apparently this was written by Stephenson and his uncle, each using a pseudonym (Stephenson's was Stephen Bury). It's the 2nd of two unrelated novels they wrote together, this originally published in '96, and Interface in '94.

This was written (and is set) shortly after the first Gulf War, and the plot is all about terrorists on American soil, subterfuge and double-dealings, etc. While this isn't necessarily enough to drag me in, their collective writing styles did. The lead characters had strongly endearing qualities to them, what I'd imagine it'd be like if Neil Gaiman wrote a thriller. Some very good characters, interesting plot twists, and an overlying network of self-slowing government agencies all made the book compelling for me.

One warning though for folks who usually like thrillers. This one's a slow-burner, there's little action until the last, oh, third of the book. But for me, the slowly unfolding plot enabled the authors to spend some time developing the characters, and that made an already good book excellent for me.

not as complex/strange as other stephenson books, but a good, solid, political thriller

В очередной раз — нет ничего лучше туго скроенного политико-шпионски-конспирологического триллера о людях, которые занимаются своим делом и при этом знают, что делают (это не тавтология, а не сильно очевидное по нынешним временам уточнение). Мило и весело, картинки из жизни закулисья американской администрации очень знакомы.

Not a bad book but not really my style. I find it all a bit dull and I don't care about the characters or the situations they're in. I've been wanting to read Snow Crash for a while now, I hope it's better than this one.