Reamde (Neal Stephenson) - Morrow - 2011 - 1,044 pages

A better title for this novel would be "The International Zula Fan Club."  The story starts with an interactive video game ("T'rain") and a computer virus ("Reamde") that is delivered by innocent Zula's boyfriend/creep to a group of Russian criminals who have no sense of humor.  So, the Russians kidnap Zula and her boyfriend and take them on a long trip to China in an effort to find the hackers who stole their stuff.  After an unusual series of coincidences, the traveling band of misfits locate the hackers who just happen to be close neighbors to evil group of jihadists who happen to be much uglier than the Russians.  Then, this ragtag group go on a round-the-world pursuit of the terrorists who also decided to kidnap unlucky Zula for some reason.  The pro-Zula group collects many more obscure Zulaites along the way and somehow manage to cross various immigration boundaries without valid passports.  This is a very complicated game of travel tag but author Stephenson makes it all work with infinite ability to find the most difficult situations for his protagonists and then slowly gets them out of trouble.  Another good title is "T'rain, Planes and Way Too Many Guns."  [JAM 11/18/2017]