Complicity in Reading 1001

Apr 12, 2013 F rated it really liked it

Shelves: scotland, 2013

Really enjoyed this. But keep mixing it up with another Iain Banks I read roughly at the same time.

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Jan 03, 2016 Kristel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, 1001-challenge, thriller

Too much violence, sex and profanity but otherwise a great job of writing. Very violent, thriller. Gonzo journalist, pathological killer are intertwined in this story. The author is a good writer but way to much profanity and the details of the violence and sex was over the top.

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Jan 22, 2016 Pip rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-challenge

I remember a literature teacher friend raving about Iain Banks years ago when our book group read The Crow Road. I remember enjoying it but not being as impressed as I am with Complicity. I listened to an Audible version, read beautifully by Peter Kenny, whose Scottish burr was a pleasure to listen to, even in some of the most graphically violent scenes. Usually Audible book don't give me time to appreciate beautiful language of which Banks was a modern master, but I was able to appreciate the w I remember a literature teacher friend raving about Iain Banks years ago when our book group read The Crow Road. I remember enjoying it but not being as impressed as I am with Complicity. I listened to an Audible version, read beautifully by Peter Kenny, whose Scottish burr was a pleasure to listen to, even in some of the most graphically violent scenes. Usually Audible book don't give me time to appreciate beautiful language of which Banks was a modern master, but I was able to appreciate the wit and style of this intelligent thriller.

Banks, through his protagonist, Cameron Colley, writes a blistering criticism of Thatcherite Britain, the misadventure of the Iraqi invasion, and modern consumerism. Gonzo journalism is frequently mentioned. Colley is a typical self-destructive journalist whose editor is constantly demanding that he waters down his provocative pieces. The reasons for his drug abuse become apparent only towards the end as his history is gradually and cleverly revealed. An intriguing lead into a series of mysterious murders sets Colley up as a suspect. Right from the start we are complicit in a series of new murders and assaults as these are told in the second person. There is a clear distinction between what Colley is doing, told in the first person, and what the murderer, who is gradually revealed to have political motives, is doing in the second person. wonderful for a listener, rather than a reader. But then the differences between the two become blurred and one only has the tense in which the episode is written as a guide to who is doing what. The timing is brilliant, the exposition plausible and the whole an intelligent and thoughtprovoking study in accountability.

Maybe because the reader did such a great job, I thought the language used absolutely authentic. Despite the grim subject matter there was plenty of banter and self-deprecating humour and the descriptions of Edinburgh, which Banks so obviously loves, and the countryside around it, were very beautifully written (of course gorse smells like coconut, but I had never recognised that before). Altogether a very clever political thriller which was entertaining while making its strongly argued points. ...more

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