Characters in “Count Zero”
I just finished reading “Count Zero” by William Gibson. It is the second part of the “Sprawl” trilogy, the first book is “Neuromancer”. I eventually realized that the sheer number of characters is a bit overwhelming for me. So I decided to take notes. There are three story lines going on, and I will list the characters roughly in their order of appearance.
The following graph contains the interactions between the characters. One can neatly see the three story lines that eventually merge.
The actual character descriptions will likely spoil the novel, so be sure to only continue reading if you really want.
It was really interesting to have three separate story lines that only merged at around 70 % of the book. I anticipated that the merging would be really cool, but I got a bit disappointed because not so much actually happened afterwards.
You can download my Python script for this from GitHub.
Turner
- Turner
- Mercenary. Hired by Conroy to extract Mitchell.
- Allison
- Psychologist, assessed Turner after the rebuild.
- Conroy
- Gave the job to Turner.
- Christopher Mitchell
- Scientist. Works at Maas Biolabs. To be extracted by Turner.
- Hosaka
- Corporation.
- Oakey
- Technician on the Conroy job. Has worked for Turner in the past.
- Jaylene Slide
- Is on console on Conroy's job.
- Sutcliffe
- Point team lead. Worked as security for IBM Marrakech during one of Turner's jobs. From Australia.
- Lynch
- Man in the point team. Conroy's inside man, was shot by Turner.
- Webber
- Woman in the point team. From New Mexico. Also Conroy's independent other inside agent.
- Ramirez
- Jockey and partner of Jaylene Slide. From Los Angeles.
- Nathan
- Repair man in the bunker of the extraction job.
- Compton
- Muscle on the Mitchell job.
- Teddy
- Muscle.
- Costa
- Muscle.
- Davis
- Muscle
- Harry
- Runner who brought the software package for Turner to become a pilot.
- Unnamed Korean black doctor
- Knew that the Hosaka doctors were a bit too naive.
- Jane Hamilton
- Lead lady in Turner's Mexico production.
- Buschel
- Executive tech from Sense/Net Los Angeles.
- Angela Mitchell / Vyéj Mirak / Ezili Freda
- Christopher's daughter. Has some wirings in head brain. Legba and Samedi seem to live inside her head and can take control of Angela. Jackie and Rhea regard her as “Our lady, virgin of miracles”. Bobby is needed to find her.
- Rudy
- Turner's brother. Lives in Bogota, helps out Turner and Angie.
- Sally
- Lives with Rudy.
- Turner's agent
- Just a phone voice in Geneva. Also hired Oakey and another guy.
- Roberts
- Unit director.
- Tally Isham
- Talked to Roberts, travels to see Alison, will meet Marly soon.
- Turner's kid
- Kid of Sally and Turner, Rudy is the uncle.
Marly Krushkhova
- Marly Krushkhova
- Sells art, hired by Josef Virek. Travels as Ms. Ovski.
- Josef Virek
- Super rich art collector. Has hired Marly.
- Andrea
- Shares an apartment with Marly.
- Paco Estevez
- Boy in Virek's construct. Helps Marly.
- Gnass
- Art buyer. Involved the police after detecting the forget. Was bought by Virek to keep quiet.
- Alain
- Art forger, Marly's ex lover. Eventually killed by Maas.
- Cornell
- Famous artist.
- Picard
- Manager of an art gallery.
- Mr. Paleologos
- Travel agent, books a trip to the address on Alain's note.
- Therèse Lorenz / Rez
- Tattooed woman, works for orbital hauling company. Is hired by Marly to bring her to the coordinates from Alain's note.
- O'Grady
- Coworker of Therèse Lorenz.
- Jones
- Abord the station, is ordered by Wigan Ludgate to turn on the lights.
Bobby Newmark
- Bobby Newmark / Count Zero
- Jockey from Barrytown. Apparently got flatlined on a run.
- Ling Warren's Brother
- Used to own a holoporn unit.
- Two-a-Day
- Broker for cowboy equipment.
- Leon
- Lives in Barrytown. Has a pirate club in the basement.
- Marsha Newmark
- Bobby's mother. Obsessed with soap operas.
- Pye
- Doctor who helped Bobby after he got mugged for the deck.
- Jackie
- Angel in Bobby's surgery. Belongs to Beauvoir. A mambo, a priestess, the horse of Danbala.
- Rhea
- Angel in Bobby's surgery. Took money for a shirt.
- Beauvoir
- Guy with lenses that lack glasses. Tells Bobby about the world of ice dealers. Wants to have the icebreaker back.
- Lucas
- Partner of Beauvoir.
- Legba
- Master of roads and pathways, the loa of communication. One of the voices in Alison's head.
- Ougou Feray
- God of war.
Danbala.
- Samedi
- Other voice in Alison's head.
- Ahmed
- Lucas's Rolls car.
- Finn
- Sold the software to Two-a-Day.
- Bodine Wilson
- First person to fuck up as a jockey.
- Wigan Ludgate
- Former jockey, supplied the Finn with the icebreaker. Cashed out in Africa. Lives on the station and answers as Jack.
- Smith
- Female art trader, sold the statues from the Finn to people uptown.
- Jammer
- Owns a club in Hypermart in the Sprawl.
- Henry
- Does not leave Bobby alone when Jackie dances.
- Lin
- Friend of Jackie. Sells clothing in the Hypermart.
- Quine
- Cowboy that Jammer knew.
- Bogue
- Barkeeper for Jammer.
- Sharkey
- Barkeeper for Jammer.
- Alix
- Second assistant warlord with the Kasuals.
- Raymond
- Warlord with the Gothicks.