Ken Nott is the
radio DJ whose eyes give us our viewpoint through this fantastic London thriller.He is a man who seems to have everything. A
cool job, cool friends, and a cool girlfriend.
Set in and around the time of september the 11th, Ken Nott is a man who has an opinion on everything and is not afraid to share it with his listeners on his phone in radio show (To the despair of his employers). His remarkable journey truly begins when he meets the mysterious and beautiful Celia. Her exotic, sensual appeal makes her
hard to resist and Ken
finds himself meeting her in various high end hotels in London for several fantasy like set pieces of love making. The only problem, she is the wife of one of London's most notorious gangsters. Mr Merrial. This piece of information coupled with the air of panic surrounding the city after 9/11 and the fact that Ken Nott has systematically offended every creed colour and religion at some point or other on his radio show, makes for a very paranoid time for our protagonist. The other skeletons in Ken's closet make him an unlikeable, yet charming
character from the start and its largely down to the phenomenal skill of Iain Banks that you feel remorse and sympathy for a character that deserves none. His characterisation is so human that you find yourself emphasing with certain parts of his character without ever embracing the whole. The climax of the book is a
great example of how to write a great confrontation scene. Every single character is portrayed with such clarity that the shocks in the plot are not from random changes of behaviour from the character, but from chance happenings and life itself which always finds a way to throw up the truth as is the harsh lesson that Ken Nott learns the excruciatingly hard way.
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