Product Description

COMPLICITY n. 1. the fact of being an accomplice, esp. in a criminal act A few spliffs, a spot of mild S&M, phone through the copy for tomorrow's front page, catch up with the latest from your mystery source - could be big, could be very big - in fact, just a regular day at the office for free-wheeling, substance-abusing Cameron Colley, a fully paid-up Gonzo hack on an Edinburgh newspaper. The source is pretty thin, but Cameron senses a scoop and checks out a series of bizarre deaths from a few years ago - only to find that the police are checking out a series of bizarre deaths that are happening right now. And Cameron just might know more about it than he'd care to admit ...Involvement; connection; liability - Complicity is a stunting exploration of the morality of greed, corruption and violence, venturing fearlessly into the darker recesses of human purpose.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21380 in Books
• Published on: 1994-09-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
'A remarkable novel ... superbly crafted, funny and intelligent' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A stylishly executed and well produced study in fear loathing and victimisation which moves towards doom in measured steps' OBSERVER 'Compelling and sinister ... a very good thriller' GLASGOW HERALD 'Fast moving ... tightly plotted' SUNDAY TIMES

Left-wing journalist Cameron becomes prime suspect for a series of wittily horrid murders of men he regards as social pests; the killer is actually his best friend, war hero entrepreneur Andy, punishing him for a childhood betrayal. It is clear to the reader from an early stage that Andy is the killer - Cameron's failure to work it out is part of his general failure to take life quite seriously enough. (Kirkus UK)

An engrossing thriller in which all the murder victims apparently deserve, if not their cruel fates, at least a reckoning, leaving the hero (and the reader) with a guilty sense of admiration and appreciation for the clever serial killer. Scottish novelist Banks (Canal Dreams, 1991, etc.) takes as his protagonist Edinburgh journalist Cameron Colley, who smokes too much, drinks too much, plays seriously with hard drugs, and is addicted to computer games. A mysterious informant is feeding him just enough information to get him running about the countryside trying to track down a major story that shimmers enticingly just beyond his grasp. The stakes are raised when Colley, a not altogether likable but unfailingly interesting character, is implicated in a series of carefully planned assaults, most of them deadly and each with a message to send. Irresponsible businessmen, a pornographer, an incompetent doctor, a judge whose leniency set a convicted rapist free to strike again - vengeance is wreaked upon them and others like them, one by one, in a series of vignettes intercut with Colley's story. Both the journalist and the chief investigator on the case become convinced that the killer is someone close to Colley, who can determine who it is if he puts his mind to it. As Colley racks his brain, a series of flashbacks lead him inevitably to the vigilante's identity and, more importantly, to revelations about his past and his personality that give the book more-than-genre substance. Certain weaknesses will bother some readers - the revelation of the killer's identity seems not to have the dramatic impact that it should, for example - but these are overshadowed by the intriguing central character and a cleverly devised plot. Literate and satisfying, with a very nice ending. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
COMPLICITY n. 1. the fact of being an accomplice, esp. in a criminal act A few spliffs, a spot of mild S&M, phone through the copy for tomorrow's front page, catch up with the latest from your mystery source - could be big, could be very big - in fact, just a regular day at the office for free-wheeling, substance-abusing Cameron Colley, a fully paid-up Gonzo hack on an Edinburgh newspaper. The source is pretty thin, but Cameron senses a scoop and checks out a series of bizarre deaths from a few years ago - only to find that the police are checking out a series of bizarre deaths that are happening right now. And Cameron just might know more about it than he'd care to admit ...Involvement; connection; liability - Complicity is a stunting exploration of the morality of greed, corruption and violence, venturing fearlessly into the darker recesses of human purpose.

About the Author
Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984. He has been a hugely popular writer of fiction ever since, and as Iain M. Banks, of science fiction.

Customer Reviews

A Great Scottish Novel
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.

A cracking good read
The reader is dragged in by the throat to commit the opening sadistic murder in the second person: "You swing the cosh and hit him very hard across the back of the head." And there are more that "you" commit, interleaved with the egotistical concerns of Cameron Colley, smoking, boozing and snorting journo for an Edinburgh rag who is lured into a greater identification with the murders than he ever wanted with anything in his life - the 'complicity' of the title. As so often with Banks betrayal plays a major role: sexually, enacting wild fantasies with an old university pal's wife; and of his best friend, rooted in life-and-death childhood events that are only slowly revealed. And beyond this, our complicity and their betrayal can be seen in the way the world is run.
Particularly in the first half of the novel, when his imagination can roam free, Banks never writes a dull sentence, and throughout adds a twist of mystery to conversations and situations that lifts his writing above the average thriller.

I Liked It
It did take me a while to actually get into it, but once I did it was enjoyable.

It has made me curious about his other books.