Complicity

Product Information

Banks writes in a way I have never experienced: one minute he's spending long chapters describing a grey, dull-looking building. Then he shoots an image overladen by sex and drugs; the next is a discussion about Tory and Labour politics. And don't be surprised if you find a humorous touch inside a murder scene that is otherwise gory and unforgiving!

Set in a real place in Scotland - also the author's homeland - I could easily picture the surroundings thanks to Banks' descriptive imagery. He skillfully entwines interesting plots such as crime, politics and sex with sub-plots such as drug use and computer games to create a rich read that leaves you hooked for life! I found these sub/plots recurring in part or in parallel in the subsequent books I read by Banks, ScienceFiction or not. Thus Banks also spins a weave amongst his chain of books, making the reader fall into his literary trap in the same way that some of the main characters in the books spiral inside the novels. stars to this smart, well-written novel by Iain Banks. Hell, it hurts me not to give it even a 4.5 besides not listing it among my favourites, but I have my reasons for that.

Summary

D Защото, според мен, дори през '93-та вече да се говори как "Форд" смятат да придобият "Ягуар", това още не се е случило и авторът едва ли би сложил в устата на героя си такава шегичка, би измислил нещо по-актуално и уместно като за '93-та... My aim is to keep the guidance as straightforward as possible, not because I think you should only do it this way or that way, but because most people (myself included) handle complexity best when they start with the foundations. In Japan, this film is given the title Psycho 2001. The cover of the DVD shows a writhing figure in a bloody bathtub, apparently boiling in a stew of guts and organs after ritual disembowelment. Cameron Colley is a 30-ish Scottish journalist with liberal leanings, a tendency to binge on alcohol and other (illicit) stimulants, and an ongoing clandestine relationship with his childhood sweetheart Yvonne. Unfortunately for Cameron, Yvonne is married to their mutual friend William. A more serious problem is presented by the exploits of a Dexter-like serial killer, who is engaged in a spree of execution-style killings of prominent business leaders and corrupt politicians for which he is systematically framing Cameron.

I am a great Banks' fan, and was awaiting this film eagerly. I am quite disappointed, though the film would presumably, if taken at face value and not compared to the novel, be OK. An excellent nervy book, both cool and terrifying at its dark centre where the perfect logic of the protagonist is devoid of pity. Banks's muscular style and gruesome imagination make this a fast-moving thriller not to be missed * Daily Telegraph *This is the first book in ages I've felt a real compulsion to read and finish, which is not to say it's necessarily better than the last few books I've read, just that it's the kind of book that's utterly compelling. Banks always uses the names of his sapient spaceships – chosen by the Minds themselves – as ironic commentary, and this novel contains some of his best, such as the Ethics Gradient, the Not Invented Here, the Frank Exchange of Views, and the Zero Gravitas. Excession is the favourite of many Culture fans, though Look to Windward (hello again, TS Eliot) and the extremely dark and brilliant Use of Weapons are also deservedly revered. This witnessing adds a level of reliability (even if we don’t like it). And readers aren’t daft. They know they’re not really the you-character, which means authors could use it as a tool to create surprise when the ‘you’ is unveiled later in the book. This is only the second Banks novel I've read - I'm late to the party here. A friend of mine recently sent me "The Crow Road" as a gift, and I really enjoyed it, so when I spotted this in a charity shop, I thought I'd give it a go. Iain Banks is simply brilliant, with and without the M. His books steal a bit of headspace and never really leave you.

Banks doesn’t present the novel fully in second person; these sections fall between those of a first-person viewpoint character, journalist Cameron Colley. As such, readers are confronted by a juxtaposition of Cameron’s version of events and what was witnessed by the narrator.

Table of Contents

That can create a sense of immediacy, but almost amnesiac dislocation. We have to discover what we think, see, know and do. And if we don’t identify with the ‘you’ – if we feel implicated rather than attached – we can be pulled out of the story rather than brought deeper into it. Iain Banks's Complicity: A Reader's Guide, Cairns Craig, Continuum International Publishing Group 2002, ISBN 0-8264-5247-7 His latest book was a science fiction (SF) novel in the Culture series, called The Hydrogen Sonata, published in 2012. Banks met his wife Annie in London, before the release of his first book. They married in Hawaii in 1982. However, he announced in early 2007 that, after 25 years together, they had separated. He lived most recently in North Queensferry, a town on the north side of the Firth of Forth near the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge.

For that reason, consider the purpose of this narrative style and the extent to which you employ it. It might be better constrained – limited to chapters inhabited by specific viewpoint characters. Cameron Colley is an Edinburgh-based journalist with a habit for speed (both drug and motion), an obsession for computer games, and a highly developed sense of moral outrage. As a journalist, he worships the patron of all gonzos, St. Hunter S. Thompson, and his righteous indignation is expressed in print as exposes on cheap liquor, defense boondoggles, and inept judges. Of course Cameron is not without sin–no self respecting protagonist could be–and his is an adulterous affair and an abuse of substances. But he is a likable enough rogue that it would be hard to suspect him of a string of grisly revenge murders against a host of wealthy capitalists and political powermongers. We, however, get to see the story from his point-of-view, and the police don’t. There are scenes in the book telling of the main character's time at university, which is named to be Stirling University, where Iain Banks was himself a student. Colley is a " Gonzo journalist" with an amphetamine habit, living in Edinburgh. He also smokes cigarettes and cannabis, drinks copious amounts of alcohol, plays computer games, and has adventurous sex with a married woman, Yvonne. He regrets his addictions and misdemeanours and occasionally tries (admittedly half-heartedly) to give them up.I like it because Iain B. makes you think. He challenges your preconceptions, delights in startling you and gives you a mental workout. I like it because he invents strong, believable characters and puts them in hideous situations with storylines that are unpredictable and challenging. I like it because his dark and difficult books are clever, engaging and enjoyable to read. They put footprints all over your brain. iain banks' sci-fi is fabulously complex and his thrillers can feel almost ostentatiously stripped-down. this is one of the latter. rather good, although rather junior league joyce carol oates as well. specifically j.c. oates under her thriller pseudonym, rosamund smith... he shares the same interest in doubles and obsessions and two characters who reflect each other's passions and weaknesses. there are also some unsurprisingly sharp critiques of materialism and various other classic and modern evils... the victims are a veritable Who's Who of Assholes Deserving Slaughter... the killer, demented as he may be, is something of a robin hood, taken to the next level (down). my main issue with the novel, besides the rather rote use of doubling, is that the lead character becomes somewhat tedious, at least to this reader. still, the writing is solid and the narrative is often riveting. My body shook, my ears rang, my eyes burned, my throat was raw with the acid-bitter stench of the evaporating crude, but it was as though the very ferocity of the experience unmanned me, unmade me and rendered me incapable of telling it. It is about hopes and disappointments, unrequited love, bravery and cowardice. Technically, it’s a quintessentially modern English novel. There are two stories travelling at once. Neither of them is told chronologically – heaven forbid we should start at the beginning and end at the end, too passe. We do indeed have exposed sex, unexpurgated violence and a Thatcherite setting. But as well as this: Complicity was a violent, dark thriller, that furiously critiqued the excesses of Thatcherism. When freewheeling, amoral, drug addicted journalist Cameron Colle is drawn into a complex web of murder and deception as he probes the (supposedly) interlinked murders of several ruthless, shadowy Establishment types; the core of the case is too close for his own comfort; or the comfort of his condescending smug yuppy mates (who have the irritating habit of calling St Andrews - 'St Andy's'!?).