Now that I've for some reason started reading genre books and pulp fiction, mainly crime fiction -- I decided to try reading some Sci-Fi. I had tried a couple of things some months ago, and didn't like them (Accelerando, Gene Wolfe), and I was really prepared to hate this. But I didn't -- in fact, I liked it quite a lot.
I think Dick took a wrong turn at the end, however -- the book was really on the cusp of doing something serious and gaining some real emotional depth -- but then he just pulled back from it -- after the scene with Rachel in the hotel.
Also, Dick doesn't help himself with the dumb names he picks (Rosen was a bad choice, not to mention the hero's name and most everyone's, in fact). If Dick had a knack for names like Bolano, say, the book would have been improved quite a bit. This might sound silly, but I don't think it is.
The whole genre, from what VERY little I know of it, seems to me to be a little superficial. I don't know why this should be; there shouldn't be anything in the subject matter to necessitate this. So I'll have to keep looking.
Anyway, a good book that could have been (and sadly..., almost was) a great book.