Recently I finished reading Neal Stephenson's incredible thriller Cryptonomicon. This book is indeed a big one. The paperback is 1100 and some odd pages with quite small print. Although it is incredibly long and at times quite detailed, I finished it faster than many other shorter books which I've read in the past. I couldn't stop turning the pages and picking it up at whatever chance I had.
Cryptonomicon is essentially two books in one. One story is a modern-day high tech business venture, while the other follows the relatives of the modern story at the time of and in World War II. In addition to it's dualistic nature, the latter war story consists of three main subplots, each with it's own characters and events to keep track of. Stephenson keeps the two time periods pretty much separate until the book is almost drawing to a close. Not until the last two chapters do we find out many of the connections between the modern plot and the World War II plots. If I could have one complaint about this book it would be that it ends far too quickly, leaving the reader desiring more to dig into.
Stephenson's ability to keep the reader interested through all the complex longwinded plot lines is commendable and is what makes the book insanely great. The story-lines seem to contain some of everything - war, cryptography, treasure hunting, high tech business, politics.
A friend recommended this book for me and now Stephenson has me hooked. Snow Crash is up next.