Complicity Paperback – 2 Mar. 2000

by Iain Banks (Author)

4.1 965 ratings

An exploration of the morality of greed, corruption and violence. When several prominent people die mysteriously, the police beat a path to the door of an Edinburgh journalist known for his drug abuse and total commitment to computer games. By the author of "The Wasp Factory" and "The Crow Road".

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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 gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels. Iain Banks died in June 2013.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Abacus (2 Mar. 2000)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 313 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0349113564
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0349113562

Best Sellers Rank: 2,659,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 173,978 in Contemporary Fiction (Books)
- 183,976 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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4.1 965 ratings

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Iain M. Banks

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Iain Banks (1954-2013) came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. Consider Phlebas, his first science fiction novel, was published under the name Iain M. Banks in 1987 and began his celebrated ten-book Culture series. He is acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation.

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Lennie Small

Gripping Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2023

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Complicity is a shocking, gripping thriller. It's difficult to put it down and it's complexity demands instant rereading. It's moving exciting and sexy but awful too.

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CaSundara

Tense, Compelling & Satisfying

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 February 2013

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This isn't my usual genre but I'm happy to say I eventually found this book more satisfying than I'd initially expected, after reading the first few chapters.

I've bought Crow Road, too, as I haven't yet made my mind up about the author. But, overall, this was a riveting read with a mildly interesting philosophical dilemma thrown in; and it offered a couple of wisdom-nuggets somewhere near the end, which I was thankful for as they gave the story additional value.

I'll pass it on to my partner as he enjoys crime-thrillers. If that's your thing, this is definitely worth reading.

Contains a fairly graphic sex scene that may not be appropriate for younger readers.

4 Stars

7 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

I’m glad I read it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 June 2023

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I struggled a bit with some of the content but it all becomes clear.

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Jippu

A complicated story with a simple ending

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2013

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I discovered Banks only because Paul Krugman recommended him (and because of his sad public demise). I ve read now several but not really got the hang of him. The hero is usually a little disorganised guy who drinks a lot. And has a haphazard love life. In this story this is very much true. First we follow parallel stories: the main guy is following a deep throat giving him bits of interesting information but not the whole story while he is botching his normal work. The other person is killing or maiming unpleasant greedy and rich people who deserve what they are getting. And then the stories intertwine and our hero is arrested for being this avenger. The rest of the book then follows first his arrest and then attempts to untangle the story with flashbacks to his childhood and unpleasant events where the protagonist did not act too heroically. The ending is perhaps too simplistic and our hero begins his life, somewhat wiser and less disorganized, one hopes.

One person found this helpful

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Kathleen Moir

Enjoyed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2022

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Once I get accustomed to the layout of the book I enjoyed it.

2 people found this helpful

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Magnificently twisted

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2006

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Let's see, we have journalism, sex, computer games, sex, mysterious phone calls, kinky sex and murders... lots of them. Yep, must be another Iain Banks classic. I've read half a dozen Banks books now and the last two (Song Of Stone and Walking On Glass) left me feeling a bit wanting as I hadn't enjoyed them as much as some of the others, so I approached Complicity with mixed feelings. I'm pleased to say all misgivings were banished by the time I'd finished the second page and from then on I was sucked in to this darkly twisted tale.

I'll not give any of the plot away but safe to say it has the usual splashes of sardonic humour, great characterisation, whimsical anecdotes and extreme violence that you would associate with an Iain Banks book. Some readers might find the violence a bit excessive (one of my female friends admitted to reading through her fingers) but it is essential to the plot and as the victims were not exactly blameless people you kind of acquiesce to it and maybe that's the idea: it's not merely the complicity of the central character to the crimes, but also the tacit consent of the reader.

Anyway, give yourself a treat and give this very modest 310 page thriller a whirl. Guaranteed to make you laugh out loud, get your pulse going, make you squirm and, best of all, keep you guessing. If buying for another person, make sure he/she is a broad-minded sort.

20 people found this helpful

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Lord Emsworth

An atmospheric, compelling, intelligent Scottish crime thriller

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 September 2013

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"Complicity": the clue's in the title. To what extent are we complicit in what happens to us? This is an atmospheric, compelling, intelligent Scottish crime thriller that - like the best genre fiction - also has plenty to say on our messed up world and the human condition. I raced through this satisfying story of how dysfunctional local journalist Cameron Colley may have triggered a series of horrific revenge incidents (murder, torture etc.). The two narrative voices kept this tale tense and interesting as the police conclude that Cameron knows far more than he is letting on. Just how complicit is he?

3 people found this helpful

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GaryB

One of Banks' best

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2010

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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.

4 people found this helpful

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Ilya Korobkov

Definitely deserves more attention

Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2021

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Recently read it for the second time, and I still think this is the least appreciated novel by Iain Banks (sans H.).

The two interweaving storylines of a gonzo journalist investigating a vast and sinister conspiracy and a Robin Hood-esque serial killer culling the numbers of the rich and powerful make it an extremely compelling thriller. Complicity is mostly concerned not with whodunit but with whydoit, which makes it quite similar to Banks' debut, The Wasp Factory, but this time over-the-top violence, sex, and disorientating perspective shifts (from 1st to 2nd person, no less) are deployed to much greater effect to portray a deeply flawed, irredeemably sadistic and prejudiced antagonist, who nevertheless remains sympathetic and understandable.

As is often the case with Banks novels, the journo protagonist is more of a passive observer than an actual main character, helpless to influence the things happening to and around him. What is unusual is that he might be the most autobiographical character Banks has ever written. His early-adopter enthusiasm for technology and video games in particular, his attempts to reconcile his socialist leanings with the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, his enthusiasm for whiskey, his fascination with the obscure nooks and crannies of Scotland all sound surprisingly like Iain himself. So if you're a fan of the author, do yourself a favor and read this.

..and if you're not, read it anyway. It's a damn good book.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Excellent as usual for Iain

Reviewed in Canada on 19 November 2019

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Entertaining, thought provoking

JJ

no es como en las fotos

Reviewed in Spain on 16 January 2020

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no es como en las fotos

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Adrian B

A decent but unfortunately too far fetched read

Reviewed in Germany on 3 May 2014

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After "The Wasp Factory" from Iain Banks, this was my second novel which i have read. The Protagonist, a drug addicted guy working for some newspaper gets Calls from an anonymous person who names people who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Cameron senses a scoop and eventually gets involved deeper than he would like, being unaware of a present murderer.

Many readers consider Cameron being unsympathetic but i think it is funny to read about his habits and failures, for example trying to quit smoking and picking up the fag one hour later just to "be in balance". The first half of the book builds suspense in form of the reader asking himself "Where is this going? Is there any big story behind these calls ? Who is the murderer ?"but actually is a funny read. Later the book twists into a direction which really surprised me in a good way. Things start to get serious but a also a little bit too far fetched in the end.

This novel is not just a thriller, it is about friendship, failure, capital greed and also even love. It is completely different than any mainstream thriller out there, i can heartly recommend the book.

Logan Ryan Smith

I know a book is good when I'm looking forward to my commute

Reviewed in the United States on 11 November 2015

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I have a commute that's about 75minutes in the morning, maybe longer on the way back; so, I know a book is good when I'm looking forward to my commute, because that's where I do the majority of my reading. And I've been pretty anxious these last few mornings to get on the El so I could get back to reading this novel.

COMPLICITY is flawed, but strange, intriguing, and very sensual in that it feels written by a person. Does that make sense? You know, written by a warm-blooded, passionate, angry, sensitive, embittered, feeling human being, and not a little troll-bot churned out by all the terrible creative writing programs of the universities. And of course he sort of predates the MFA factory mill of dull and dry drivel, so he mostly lucked out in that he likely would never have been drawn into academics and writing the way someone tells you you have to write in order to be published in GRANTA or whatever and be respected.

Anyway, I digress. This is a strange tale of mass murder, and those murders are all explicit, creative, disgusting, and politically motivated. Here's where I had one snag with the book. I didn't completely grasp the political message that the murders were all a foil for. Banks had one, definitely, and one message is blatantly clear--conservatives are evil, thoughtless, selfish, unfeeling f***s. And maybe that's all there is to it, but maybe I'm missing something because Banks is talking about UK politics--and as a Scots, of course.

I also picked this one up because I recently read and LOVED The Wasp Factory, and Iain said he thought this one was closest to it but "without the happy ending". So, of course I picked it up, and it certainly is dark and strange, but also ripe with humor moments on nearly every page. It is, however, a thriller and it fits squarely within the genre. The Wasp Factory was a slim volume of meanderings and wanderings and purely literary--it was a book with a plot (as nearly all books eventually are), but one that most definitely wasn't concerned with plot. So, definitely a difference between the two.

While I think the politics didn't always hit their mark in being tied to the action of this book, and while I didn't find the ending wholly satisfactory, I kind of loved this book, too, and will be reading many more Iain Banks books in the future. Always sad when you discover an author you really dig only to find out they died recently, and a tad too early at that. But at least he's got a lot of books to wade through.

3 people found this helpful

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Complicity Paperback – 2 Mar. 2000

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