Neal Stephenson, the author of Reamde, is an American writer and game designer who is most known for his works of speculative fiction. He includes a lot of math, science, cryptography, philosophy, currency and economics, and linguistics in all of his novels, making them not only more realistic but also much more interesting to read and follow along with. In addition to writing novels like Reamde, Stephenson also writes nonfiction for Wired and other publications as well as collaborative novels under the pseudonym Stephen Bury.
Reamde was published in 2011 and is set in the present day, focusing on one family who is under threat by hackers and money hungry gamers. The story starts out by introducing Richard “Dodge” Forthrast, the middle son in the Forthrast family. The other important character who is introduced is named Zula, who is the niece of Richard and the adopted daughter of John Forthrast, the oldest Forthrast son. Richard is extremely wealthy, founding a company that runs T’Rain, which is a virtual world that incorporates economics so in-game currency can be transferred to hard currency. Zula and her boyfriend Peter both go the reunion and Richard’s resort, which is near where Richard used to deal drugs. During this time, Peter is desperate for money and sells people’s credit card numbers to a sketchy contact, and he has to pay the price, because his laptop is infected and hacked. Reamde is filled with intense action both online and in reality, from gold farming to the methods of the Russian mafia.
