The Quarry
Group of old friends with a shared past full of secrets? Tick. Atmospheric setting? Tick. Big reveal at the end bringing all the plot points together at the end? Well, sort of, but I can’t help that this story of a lost video tape and the secret it holds doesn’t really go anywhere and the whole novel is just an means for Iain to put into the ranting words of his characters just what a generally sh*tty place the world is these days. I’m not saying that he’s wrong in any way (and given what subsequently happened to Iain he’s entitled to rant) but the whole just doesn’t add up to a satisfying story for me. There are better Banks novels than this.