Complicity by Iain Banks
“You could climb up onto them and sit on the rusting iron grid – afraid it would give way but afraid to admit you were afraid – and look down into that utter blackness, and sometimes catch the cold, dead scent of the abandoned gunned, rising up around you like some remorseless chilly breath.” Complicity, Iain Banks.
When browsing my local library with the titles of 32 books on the list of 1001 in my hand, I came across this one and thought, as more of a mystery novel, it would be a good change of pace from the general fiction books I seem to be reading a lot of lately. The book gives you two points of view. We start off the book with the mystery murderer in Second Person POV, and then each chapter get a little section from him as we see him murder (or occasionally just assault) yet another person he believes has done wrong. For most of the book, though, we follow Cameron Colley, a journalist who has been receiving tips from a mysterious Mr. Archer about some suspicious suicides and a conspiracy plot.
Things seem to be going relatively well for Cameron. He’s writing some hard-hitting pieces (though occasionally too hard-hitting for his editor), he’s got his computer games, his credit limit is raised so he buys himself a new laptop, he’s got Mr. Archer giving him more material for what he hopes will eventually be a huge story, and he’s got Yvonne. Well, he sometimes has Yvonne. Things go downhill though. Suddenly the police are asking him questions about where he was when these murders and assaults took place, and Cameron doesn’t have solid alibis because he’d been waiting for Mr. Archer’s calls in discreet, isolated locations. One detective does believe that he is innocent, but also believes that Cameron knows who has been killing and assaulting these people, and they know him. This leads Cameron through memory upon memory of his close friends throughout his childhood and into adulthood. Eventually, he figures it out and then it becomes a cat and mouse game between the police (and Cameron) and the killer, who they believe is holding two more victims.
While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, one thing that seemed odd to me was that it seemed like almost every single one of Cameron’s close friends did drugs (and Cameron as well). Mostly marijuana, but also cocaine and speed. But then the only thing Cameron seems addicted to is smoking, and he tries to give that up. He has to go without speed for quite some time while the police are holding him in suspicion of murder and he doesn’t seem to have any symptoms of withdrawal, unless they were subtle and I missed them.
There was also quite a bit of talk about politics in some of the flashbacks. I know I seem to be like a broken record on this subject, but I don’t enjoy politics, reading about it or hearing about it, especially if it’s a different country’s politics because then I really don’t understand it.
Overall, I give it an 8/10. I morbidly enjoyed watching the killer work some “fitting” deaths for perceived wrongs. The politics and drugs were slightly off putting just because it made it harder for me to connect with the character and follow conversations. A really good read nonetheless. Highly recommend for those who enjoy mystery/detective novels.
Read on!
Molly
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