Complicity - Softcover

Banks, Iain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743200187 ISBN 13: 9780743200189

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2002

Synopsis

COMPLICITY n. 1. the fact of being an accomplice, esp. in a criminal act
Local journalist Cameron Colley writes articles that are idealistic, from the viewpoint of the underdog. A twisted serial killer seems to have the same MO -- he commits brutal murders on behalf of the underdog. As the two stories begin to merge, Cameron finds himself inextricably and inexplicably implicated by the killer.
When the arms dealer whom Cameron plans to expose is found literally "disarmed" before Cameron can even put pen to paper and the brewery chief, loathed by Cameron, who sold out at the expense of his workers finds himself permanently unemployable, the police become convinced of Cameron's guilt, as do half his friends and colleagues, forcing Cameron to employ all his investigative skills to find the real killer and his motive.

About this title

From the Publisher:

A distinguished judge who once extended leniency to a convicted rapist is himself brutally raped. A pornographer who specializes in snuff films is given a paralyzing injection while a video camera captures it on tape. A wealthy business-man whose negligence caused a fatal explosion is blown up in his own home. This series of savage, "punishment-fits-the-crime" assaults carried out by a self-styled avenger seems to implicate Cameron Colley, a latter-day Gonzo journalist who tries to put as much cheerful subversion into his dispatches for an Edinburgh-based newspaper as he can get away with. Detained by the police as a suspect, Cameron protests that he's being set up, but he cannot hide a certain complicit admiration for the avenger's violent justice. And Cameron knows the only way to get the cops off his back is to lead them to the vigilante himself--a good plan until it becomes clear that the culprit is uncomfortably close to home. Framing larger themes of crime and punishment around a chilling tale of murder and revenge, this brilliantly constructed thriller holds readers in its grip until its satisfying last pages, inviting them, too, to share Cameron's thrill as society's sheltered demons get their comeuppance. Complicity is Iain Bank's most compelling and exciting novel yet.

"[Banks is] a Nineties' Robert Louis Stevenson."--The Independent On Sunday

From the Author:

Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, recently selected in a British poll as one of the top one hundred novels of the century. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim with his other works of fiction, including the international bestsellers A Song of Stone and The Business, and as Iain M. Banks, science fiction. He lives in Scotland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0743200187
• ISBN 13: 9780743200189
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320