Promotional Information

The new novel from Iain Banks, the bestselling author of The Wasp Factory.

About the Author

Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels.

Reviews

Eerily compelling
*Evening Standard*

The Quarry is not a book to be afraid of. It is a novel shot through with Banks' trademark humour, political engagement and humour . . . Banks has always been adept at evoking friendship, with its illogical loyalties and messes
*The Times*

It's a sign that in Banks we had a novelist of supreme subtlety and won who, in fiction as in life, and for all the concentrated horror of his debut novel, all the epic estrangements of his "skiffy" (sci-fi), and all the grimness of his final months, had an irrepressibly sense of fun that is evident on every page of The Quarry
*Independent*

As always with Banks the dialogue is a sheer delight, whether it be baleful drink-and-drug fuelled reminiscence or bickering one-upmanship . . . It is the central characterisations that give the novel its power . . . Banks handles the challenge brilliantly . . . Despite his cruelty, most readers will adore Guy. It helps that his expletive-filled jeremiads comprise some of the funniest writing Banks has ever produced . . . But then for twenty-nine years Banks has made it his business to inspire sympathy for monsters . . . It may be this element of compassion that accounts for why so many readers are now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of a writer who has the rare gift of being infallibly entertaining
*Daily Telegraph*

This is vintage Banks, full of heart, black comedy and vitriol, and is sure to delight his fans
*Sunday Mirror*

Eerily compelling -- William Leith * Evening Standard *
The Quarry is not a book to be afraid of. It is a novel shot through with Banks' trademark humour, political engagement and humour . . . Banks has always been adept at evoking friendship, with its illogical loyalties and messes -- Louise Welsh * The Times *
It's a sign that in Banks we had a novelist of supreme subtlety and won who, in fiction as in life, and for all the concentrated horror of his debut novel, all the epic estrangements of his "skiffy" (sci-fi), and all the grimness of his final months, had an irrepressibly sense of fun that is evident on every page of The Quarry -- Brian Morton * Independent *
As always with Banks the dialogue is a sheer delight, whether it be baleful drink-and-drug fuelled reminiscence or bickering one-upmanship . . . It is the central characterisations that give the novel its power . . . Banks handles the challenge brilliantly . . . Despite his cruelty, most readers will adore Guy. It helps that his expletive-filled jeremiads comprise some of the funniest writing Banks has ever produced . . . But then for twenty-nine years Banks has made it his business to inspire sympathy for monsters . . . It may be this element of compassion that accounts for why so many readers are now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of a writer who has the rare gift of being infallibly entertaining -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *
This is vintage Banks, full of heart, black comedy and vitriol, and is sure to delight his fans * Sunday Mirror *