Novels. Doncha just love them! This one was Vincent-Price-in-Theatre-of-Blood (ha ha - you worm!) crossed with the collected Marxism Today editorials of the 1980s crossed with Carry On Camping. Just, in fact, like Jonathan Coe's What a Carve Up! which came out around the same time, like when Hollywood comes out with two suspiciously similar movies at once (A Bug's Life & Antz, Capote and Infamous). Banks's father was an officer in the Admiralty and his mother was once a professional ice skater. Iain Banks was educated at the University of Stirling where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. He moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland, living in Edinburgh and then Fife. 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. We follow Cameron Colley, a journalist with a mild drug, drink and gaming habit. He doesn't actually seem to do much work, but runs around after an anonymous source called Archer, who is hinting at links between the deaths of Nuclear scientists and associated people. But what is going on is far more sinister. There's a series of brutal murders across the country and suddenly Cameron is arrested. He knows he didn't do them, but can he be sure he's not complicit in the crimes!

The novel contains large amounts of violence, in and out of the bedroom type violence, as well as scenes of torture. Instead of simply being gratuitous, the violence creates potential for discussion, in the reader and oh, maybe some awesomely twisted book club. I have always been a fan of vigilante, greater good, moral right, and capital punishment debates, and this book at least dabbles with each of these topics, to varrying degrees. 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'!?). 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.Under suspicion by the police, Colley finds himself involved doubly in the bizarre murders when the killer is revealed. At the end of the book, Colley is diagnosed with lung cancer (a downbeat ending omitted in the film adaptation).

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. 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 * The mix of humour, horror, emotion, and unflinchingly graphic scenes makes for an incredibly vivid story and the plot is suitably complex that even with these elements toned down it would be a great book, as it is though it's something quite special. It's really the sort of book Irvine Welsh seems to be trying to write, but can't.

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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! 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.