From Publishers Weekly
In 1984, Banks's first novel, The Wasp Factory, attained cult status in England for its accomplished yet brutal portrait of a serial killer. His newest novel (after Against a Dark Background) carries on that tradition by centering on a series of cruel, if poetically just, killings. The point of view shifts back and forth between that of the unnamed murderer, whose outrages are presented in the second person, and that of an Edinburgh-based journalist, Cameron Colley, who's tracking the killer and whose story is told in the first person. The police think that Colley, who models himself slavishly on "St. Hunter" (Hunter S. Thompson)-downing double whiskeys, smoking dope, speaking a gonzo slang and carrying on an S&M affair with a married woman- is the murderer. Certainly, Colley feels a certain admiration for that avenging angel, who tailors his punishments to fit his victims' supposed crimes, e.g., brutally raping a judge who once exhibited leniency to a rapist. Banks's handling of this volatile scenario is extremely graphic, sadistic-and rather obvious, though effective. He's a good enough writer to seduce readers into sharing not only Colley's admiration for the killer but also, through his use of the second person, the killer's relish in the act of murder: complicity, indeed. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Although this remarkable novel will first strike readers as a burned-out journalist's distasteful account of his pathetically shallow and lonely life, it soon becomes clear that author Banks is just playing cat-and-mouse with his audience. Before long, we are mesmerized by Banks' violent and disturbing story about a latter-day avenger who's lost faith in the system's ability to punish wrongdoers. Cameron Colley, a Scottish journalist, is a disillusioned but likable cokehead who treats life--and the articles he writes for his Edinburgh newspaper--with cheerful disdain. While Cameron is blithely snorting coke, somewhere in Scotland a "self-styled avenger" is busy designing his own psychotically savage punishments for the judge who was overly lenient with a rapist, the pornographer who made one too many snuff films, and the amoral businessman whose negligence caused hundreds of deaths. All the obvious clues are leading the police to Colley, who swears he's been framed--but by whom? If he can just figure out who knows him well enough to set him up--and who among his acquaintances is clever enough and deranged enough to extract such terrible justice--maybe he can solve the mystery and get the police off his case. Dark, cynical, shocking, but immensely satisfying, this one's a must-have. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
An engrossing thriller in which all the murder victims apparently deserve, if not their cruel fates, at least a reckoning, leaving the hero (and the reader) with a guilty sense of admiration and appreciation for the clever serial killer. Scottish novelist Banks (Canal Dreams, 1991, etc.) takes as his protagonist Edinburgh journalist Cameron Colley, who smokes too much, drinks too much, plays seriously with hard drugs, and is addicted to computer games. A mysterious informant is feeding him just enough information to get him running about the countryside trying to track down a major story that shimmers enticingly just beyond his grasp. The stakes are raised when Colley, a not altogether likable but unfailingly interesting character, is implicated in a series of carefully planned assaults, most of them deadly and each with a message to send. Irresponsible businessmen, a pornographer, an incompetent doctor, a judge whose leniency set a convicted rapist free to strike again--vengeance is wreaked upon them and others like them, one by one, in a series of vignettes intercut with Colley's story. Both the journalist and the chief investigator on the case become convinced that the killer is someone close to Colley, who can determine who it is if he puts his mind to it. As Colley racks his brain, a series of flashbacks lead him inevitably to the vigilante's identity and, more importantly, to revelations about his past and his personality that give the book more-than-genre substance. Certain weaknesses will bother some readers--the revelation of the killer's identity seems not to have the dramatic impact that it should, for example--but these are overshadowed by the intriguing central character and a cleverly devised plot. Literate and satisfying, with a very nice ending. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
The New York Times Book Review From the brilliant opening...that lands the reader smack in the middle of the first of a series of cold-blooded murders to the final confrontation on a weather-beaten wild island...Complicity is irresistibly compelling.


Book Description
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.


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


About 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.

FROM OUR EDITORS

A vigilante bent on delivering a series of savage punishments that "fit the crime" cleverly implicates journalist Cameron Colley. Protesting that he's being set up, Colley can't hide a certain complicit admiration for the avenger's justice--until it hits close to home.

ANNOTATION

A #1 bestseller in England, this literate, compelling thriller is written in the tradition of Smilla's Sense of Snow and Gorky Park. A latter-day Gonzo journalist must clear his name when he is implicated in a series of savage, "punishment-fits-the-crime" assaults that result in murder.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly