History Literature / HaltingState

* JustForPun: Jack's online avatar is a shotgun-wielding bear. He states that he believes in the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics Right To Keep And Arm Bears.]] [[LampshadeHanging He then waits for the obligatory groan]].

* PoliceAreUseless: Sue can't help but notice that she is entirely unqualified to deal with the sort of problems the plot forces upon her. She is dragged along for the ride because she was the cop on the scene, and spends the entire book trying to catch up. The Scottish police officers get to see this trope on a different scale when a team from [=EuroPol=] swoop in unannounced, make a huge mess, and then leave, further escalating the situation without doing much to help.
** That said, the police investigation does eventually allow for Sue to be on the scene when the BigBad is revealed [[spoiler: and to help when Jack is shot]]. Most of the shortcomings that Sue suffers in dealing with the plot is simply a lack of training.

* SpyFiction: Stale Scottish beer.

* HasTwoMommies: Sue's private life doesn't feature into the story much, but there are many references to her wife and their son, Davey.

* HollywoodNerd: Jack, the only character nerdy enough to carry an actual keyboard with him. He is also the only character to own a laptop computer (a ''three screen'' laptop) instead of using a smartphone for everything like most of the other characters.

* AdultFear: Elaine mostly only needs to worry about her own welfare, and Jack's by extension of working with him. Jack receives threatening phone calls implying that his niece may be in danger if he presses with the investigation. Sue, knowing that the communications network that the entire country runs on has been compromised, writes the names and addresses of various relatives and family friends in her son's notebook before sending him to school, just in case something happens before he can come back home.
** Subverted in Jack's case: [[spoiler: He knows that his niece cannot be in any danger, because she has been dead for years.]]

''Halting State'' is a 2008 PostCyberPunk novel by Creator/CharlesStross.

Sue, a police officer in Edinburgh, responds to a call about a theft at a software company, only to learn that ''what'' was stolen is a bit out of her area of expertise: Several hundred thousand Euros worth of virtual valuables from MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineGame. To make things more interesting, one of the company's main programmers, a reclusive work-from-home type, is missing without a trace, and nobody in the office can recall having ever seen him.

All three of these people are going to quickly realize they might be in over their heads as the online bank robbery proves to be [[GonnaNeedMoreTrope much more than it seems.]] InAWorld where EverythingIsOnline ([[NotHyperbole Really]]), even the cops and the criminals, these three characters will have to think on their feet once something manages to compromise the network and use it against them.

* RealityEnsues: Jack chases after a suspected bad guy while both are playing the same AugmentedReality fantasy role-playing game. They get into a fight, where Jack's character (a [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter blunderbuss-wielding]] [[BearsAreBadNews bipedal bear]]) unloads with a virtual BFG. Much to his surprise, his opponent, playing a far weaker character, opts to go for a weak dagger attack instead. [[spoiler: Which turns out to have been a ''real'' dagger attack. Jack doesn't realize it right away because the knife got embedded in a folding keyboard he had in his pocket.]]

* JustForPun: Jack's online avatar is a shotgun-wielding bear. He states that he believes in the [[AmericanGunPolitics Right To Keep And Arm Bears.]] [[LampshadeHanging He then waits for the obligatory groan]].

* FourOneNineScam: [[spoiler: An email which at first appears to be this (and in fact is dismissed as such by the spam filter) may actually be 100% truthful, revealing where the villain stashed his stolen money.]]

* ForeignQueasine: In one scene, Jack, Elaine, and a third character go to a restaraunt that serves an "Authentic Scottish Breakfast". Note that Edinburgh native Jack digs in with gusto, while Londoner Elaine manages to go through the entire meal having only eaten a few bites of her mostly-fried greasy food.
* GenreBlind: All three main characters, to varying degrees, though they all start catching up quick. Sue's narration explicitely indicates that she is furiously taking notes and actively doing research on many of the things she is unfamiliar with, particulary the technology side of things.

* IHaveYourWife: Jack receives a series of messages that eventually reveal that his niece has been kidnapped, but that nothing will happen to her if he walks away from the investigation. [[spoiler: It doens't quite work as planned, see DeadAllAlong.]]