Being a new reader of Iain Banks, I tried to make the first one I read, one of his most acclaimed books and for good reason. I have just finished the book and enjoyed it immensely. I like Jonathon Coe books and this didn't disappoint as a comparison to some of Coe's wonderfully writhing plots, replete with chicanery, sanguinary acts of violence and dark, macarbre humour. The plot was wonderfully paced and the characters engaging. The violence was gruesome and disturbing at times but never gratuitous, and never violence for the sake of violence, and always with enough black humour to induce a guilty laugh at, what in essence shouldn't really be laughter inducing. If you're new to Banks, as I was, make this the first one!
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I have just read this novel for the third (or fourth) time, which confirmed for me that this is one of Bank's best works. I want to refute some of the criticisms made in the two 2009 reviews published below. To criticise the plot structure is rather unfair. The novel moves simultaneously forwards and backwards in time in a seamless fashion. We discover how the protagonist Cameron Colley met his friends and lover, and the events in his life which led eventually to the brutal series of murders and assaults that form the present day part of the narrative. So the plot is simply excellent but it is the style with which it is revealed that makes this, and other works by Bank's, so wonderful. It is simultaneously shocking and extremely, wickedly funny. It is certainly not farfetched - the events in the narrative are all disturbingly plausible. Incidentally, there are no "graphic scenes of mutilation" mentioned in another review below (well possibly one). Some people meet very nasty ends - no surprise in a murder mystery - and our sympathies are often with the assailant given the victims' past misdemeanours. This book is a fantastic read.
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Looking at the reviews here, I get the feeling I missed something. I'm working my way through Iain Banks's back catalogue and along with "Walking On Glass" this was one of the weakest novels for me.
We follow Cameron, a journalist, as he receives a tip-off from an unknown source, relating to a murder case from several years before. As he travels from person to person the police pursue a new line of murders, each victim linking back to Cameron as they are either people he has seen or is going to see in his investigation...
Maybe it was just me, but I found the graphic scenes of mutilation rather juvenile, seemingly written just for shock value rather than plot progression, and the plot itself was rather sparse. There is a revelation of sorts towards the end, but I for one saw it coming a mile off, and if I'm honest I couldn't wait for the book to end, but despite its low page count compared to some of his other books it took me an age to finish.
I'll try it again one day, I'm sure, but after my first read I found it pretty poor.
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Chronologically I think this was pre "Quite Ugly One Morning" - though I could be wrong - but the similarities between the two novels; Colley and Parlabane as characters, strong anti-tory themes, bizarre murders and far fetched plots lead me to direct comparison.
This was a good book - it just wasn't as good as Brookmyre's in my opinion. Colley was an engaging character - certainly more so than any of his friends - but it all just felt a little sign-posted although I admit I was thrown a off track (briefly) by one incident.
It was a good read - but not one I'll take a lot away from.
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Cameron Colley, journalist at a prominent Scottish newspaper, enjoys his drugs, his drink and his kinky affair with his friend's wife. Addicted to computer games and dreaming of wealth, he becomes prime suspect following a series of violent murders and has to try to prove his innocence.
Complicity is the closest that Banks has come to writing a 'conventional' thriller and is a taut and brutal novel. Some of the scenes of torture and sexual violence are uncomfortable reading, yet the novel sparkles with Banks's verbal style, energy, colourful characterisation and beautifully described locations and his fascination with technology and computer games.
The result is a highly original and hugely impressive novel which you can't put down, even on the third reading.
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