Set in a near-future dystopia, the narrative follows Case, a computer hacker enlisted into a crew by a powerful artificial intelligence and a traumatised former soldier to complete a high-stakes heist.

Influences on the novel include the detective stories of Raymond Chandler, the comic art of Jean Giraud, and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959).

Neuromancer expanded and popularised the setting and concepts of an earlier Gibson story, "Burning Chrome" (1981), which introduced cyberspace—a digital space traversable by humans—and "jacking in", a bio-mechanical method of interfacing with computers.

Neuromancer is agreed as foundational work of early cyberpunk, although critics differ on whether the novel ignited the genre or if it was lifted by its inevitable rise.

In 1981, while working as a teaching assistant at his alma mater, the University of British Columbia, Gibson's Nebula Award-nominated short story "Johnny Mnemonic" introduced one of Neuromancer's main characters, Molly.

[1] "Johnny Mnemonic" infused elements of crime fiction, like marginalised communities and criminal society, with technology, blurring the boundary of human and machine.

[4] Later in 1981, Gibson was commissioned to write a novel by science-fiction editor Terry Carr for his second series of Ace Science Fiction Specials; he submitted an outline later that year with the working title Jacked In, eventually renaming it Neuromancer.

[6] The novel underwent considerable revision, with Gibson saying he rewrote the first two-thirds twelve times to ensure there was both stylistic consistency and a "vaguely plausible" plot.

[13] Case's illegal practices, like theft and murder, situate him within a wider tradition of transgressive detectives, like the opiate addiction of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

[14] Gibson stated that the pulp noir core of the novel was key to engaging his readers, and cited the works of Dashiell Hammett and Robert Stone as major influences on its style.

[5] Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) is frequently cited by critics as an influence on Neuromancer,[18] including by one as its "principal source", as a literary predecessor of Gibson's "cyberspace".

[22] John Carpenter's Escape from New York (1981) influenced Gibson's approach to world-building, pointing to throwaway lines that suggested much about the film's world and its history beyond the narrative itself.

[23] Gibson wrote in his introduction to the graphic novel of Neuromancer that Blade Runner was not a conscious influence;[21] in a later interview, he recounted a lunch with Scott where they both acknowledged a shared debt to Moebius's work in Métal Hurlant.

[29]The cyberpunk style contrasted control and communications technologies with the rebellious, countercultural punk aesthetic,[30] and used metaphor to blur the boundaries of human and machine: "drugs and sex and other thrills turn you on, you get a buzz, you get wired, you space out, you go on automatic".

[33] Neuromancer, its sequels and other cyberpunk stories are often discussed within the socio-economic context of the 1980s, a period of economic restructuring,[34][35] corporate globalization,[36] and government deregulation.

[39] Gibson's inexperience as an author led to the novel capturing the essence of 1980s inequality but reinforcing and appealing to the dominant power structure,[40] leaving his "dead-cynicism [and] fashionable survival".

[52][e] Tom Moylan notes that Neuromancer loses its "critical edge" in exploring Zion's within the primary narrative,[53] and describes a pattern in Gibson's Sprawl trilogy of including the racial Other but limiting their role to "happy helper".

[55][56] Gibson recognised, and benefitted from, the growing public fascination with the evolving technology landscape,[57] and used these concerns to "create an entire cultural vocabulary",[56] merging the language of human experience with the electronic.

[31][f] Bruce Sterling relates the cyborg to the increasing use of technology that directly interfaces with the human body, citing contact lenses and the Sony Walkman.

[70] The novel catalysed the cyberpunk movement,[71] influencing artists across virtually all forms of media, including film, literature, visual art, fashion and video gaming.

[77] The novel's immense success, alongside the continuous output work of other early cyberpunk writers—most commonly listed as Bruce Sterling, Lewis Shiner, John Shirley and Rudy Rucker—virtually guaranteed the genre's immediate survival.

[27] In particular, Neuromancer provided future cyberpunk stories with a basic structure and vocabulary: protagonists who interface with computer hardware using a biological port, circumvent anti-hacking protocols (Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, or ICE) and navigate a three-dimensional virtual world (cyberspace).

[79][80][81] In 1992, John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, introduced the term "cyberspace" to the US Intelligence Community during a speech in 1992, mentioning Neuromancer directly.

[citation needed] There have been several proposed film adaptations of Neuromancer, with drafts of scripts written by British director Chris Cunningham and Chuck Russell, with Aphex Twin providing the soundtrack.

[citation needed] The box packaging for the video game adaptation had even carried the promotional mention for a major motion picture to come from "Cabana Boy Productions."

[citation needed] In May 2007, reports emerged that a film was in the works, with Joseph Kahn (director of Torque) in line to direct and Milla Jovovich in the lead role.

[85] In March 2011, with the news that Seven Arts and GFM Films would be merging their distribution operations, it was announced that the joint venture would be purchasing the rights to Neuromancer under Vincenzo Natali's direction.

[88][better source needed] In August 2017, it was announced that Deadpool director Tim Miller was signed on to direct a new film adaptation by Fox, with Simon Kinberg producing.

[89][needs update] In November 2022, it was rumored that Apple TV+ was looking to begin work on a project to adapt Neuromancer into a TV series and were looking to cast Miles Teller in the lead role and with Graham Roland serving as writer, producer, and showrunner.

[90] In February 2024, Apple TV+ announced that it had greenlit a series, co-produced by Skydance Television, Anonymous Content, and DreamCrew Entertainment—for 10 episodes, with J. D. Dillard joining Roland as co-showrunner.