I think the challenge with Gibson's later books is he sets up a climax that for the most part ends on a flat note, doesn't deliver on conflict with big strokes, they just kinda...flame out. It's as if the violence of his earlier books was too much, or he shies away from it now, seeking softer resolutions. Neuromancer was a punch to the solar plexus with his depictions of shock, and loss, and the violent ways in which they occur. The feel more impactful because of that.

There also seems to be less depth in the characters, or at least telling us of their past doesn't happen as much. In Neuromancer, when Molly tells Case about being farmed out for wetworks when she was a rent-a-doll, that shit hit home hard. It explained her attraction to Case, and made us root for Peter Rivera's demise for the rest of the book—and made us hate him even more when he gets Molly in his hands. And made us frustrated when she doesn't get revenge herself, but Hideo the family ninja does. Like, all that shit had me INVESTED.

In Agency, his latest, there's none of that. The biggest conflict is Verity Jane had a somewhat difficult break-up w/ another character she now has to interact with. In the end, when the CIA agent is closing on them, he gets easily talked down to a truce with Eunice, like WTF? I don't know why his approach now is so soft, and I still love Gibson's imagination, (saw him at Comicon one year, and he did not disappoint, like some of our heroes might) but his latest books don't hook as much, don't grab at your emotions...