I can strongly recommend The Baroque Cycle - the loosely connected &quot;prequels&quot; to Cryptonomicon:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Baroque_Cycle" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Baroque_Cycle</a><p>[Jack Shaftoe is probably my favourite fictional character]