William Gibson's Neuromancer
"Cyberspace was the last frontier. The bright, intermeshing lattices of data in the world's massive computer networks were waiting to be plundered. Case was twenty-four. At twenty-two, he'd been an interface cowboy, one of the best computer jocks in the urban Sprawl that stretched down North America's east coast. A thief, he'd worked for thieves, jacked into a computer deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the matrix of the world's computer networks. He stole secrets from corporate computers, selling them to the highest bidder. Then, as most thieves do, he made a classic mistake. He stole from his employers. He'd expected to die, but they only smiled. They burnt out his nervous system instead, so he'd never experience the matrix again. Until Molly offered him his last chance. Black market doctors would fix him up, if in return he'd make what might be his last desperate run."--Cover.