Complicity - Iain Banks

Surprise surprise! This is what I get, among the rest, to translate by my publisher. "Complicity" by Iain Banks, you can imagine my surprise... Iain Banks has a cult status in UK, and his fan club is having fanatic proportions. Bank’s writing career has been both popular and experimental. Cleverly inventive mega-selling Scotsman never suffered for his art. His latest work is slightly less staggering, considered its SF context - since his first, million-selling novel “The Wasp Factory” in 1984. Now he has settled into a routine of a three months writing per year and taking the rest of the year ... more

Iain Banks, since his debut book 'The wasp factory' has consistently turned out exceptional and imaginative stories and 'Complicity' is no exception. In fact, I think it is his best book to date. The reader is given a sleazy, testy main character, Cameron, who reflects a lot of what is dark about modern living. With constant substance abuse, an ongoing sado-masochistic affair with his best friend's wife, and an obsession with a computer game, there is a lot of dark humour in the story. The story revolves around a spate of murders and attacks which happen to rich, powerful members of the ... more

I have read many of Iain Banks' books and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. Banks has a unique ability in expressing a view of society which I believe many people share, although not everyone would admit to it. I find it refreshing to read works by an author with such insight into humanity. Banks' plots always manage to fully engage the reader and Complicity is no exception. With a wide range of lively characters and their energetic pursuits, you will not be disappointed. Murder is introduced very early on and Banks has no mercy - he spares no details, so if you don't like blood and gutsy gore ... more

I had read a few of Banks' books and found them all very good, although some, such as the Bridge are quite hard to read. Complicity however is one of those unique books that conveys a powerful message to the reader, whilst also being easy on the eye to read. The plot centres around a journalist following up a lead into a series of suspicious deaths from a decade earlier. However, all is not as seems, I will not give the rest of the game away. But the plot is compelling and well written. Best of all it is nicely plotted with the whole picture eventually coming out. There is a great contempt for ... more

This is a book for anyone who, like me, was delighted by the warped imagination of Banks's "The Wasp Factory", and was eagerly waiting for Banks to write another novel to match its wickedly black humour and devilish gruesomeness. "Complicity" matches "Wasp Factory" in all these respects, and then some! Someone is killing prominent people, and doing it in bizarre (some might say sick, and they could be right!) and ironically appropriate ways. An Edinburgh journalist becomes involved in the case; his drug abuse and taste for weird sex, plus his obsession with a computer "god" game ensure that ... more

Complicity is the most facinating and captivating novel I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone with a wicked imagination and a good sense of humour. The novel has so many twists and sub-plots that it leaves you guessing right up to the last few chapters. The narrative is written in the voice of Cameron Colley, a chain smoking, loved-up Journalist. The tale is a twist on the classic whodunnit, mystery novel and alternates from Cameron's narrative to that of the vengeful terrorist. The identity of the terrorist is not revealed until the final chapters, which leaves the reader ... more

I haver never read Ian Banks before, and have read the first chapter in my English Class, i just had to but the book so that i could see how it all ended. I original i dea in this murder horror tale is that Ian Banks every time there is a murder taking place through the use of language makes you (the reader) the murder, and describes how you commit the crime. The story as a whole is very entertaining however you have to be into Ian Banks type book and also have to be able to like things being described in graphic detail. Overall this is an enjoyable read for a perhaps required audience. ... more