Banks

I've been a fan of the late Iain Banks' Science Fiction novels for a few years but had never sampled his non-SF fiction. S had acquired a copy of Banks' first book from a charity shop a while back and hadn't got far into it before deciding it wasn't for him.

It is a difficult read. "Macabre, bizarre.." reads the cover and that's not overdoing it, but I did find it a compulsive read. The ending is wholly unexpected - I finished it the other evening. It is extraordinarily well written and I can see how it catapulted Banks into the spotlight. It's incredible as a first novel.

Happened to find a convenient dead body on the windowsill!