About the Author

Iain Banks came to 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

"The Quarry is a satisfying end to a fine writing career."--Sunday Express

"The Quarry is an honorable finale to an exciting career."--The Guardian

"The Quarry is...a novel shot through with Banks's trademark humor, political engagement, and hope."--The Times, Book of the Week

"A compelling, raw book. Well-told, like all his books."--Evening Standard

"A goodbye letter to the world and all of its wonder and terror."--Cory Doctorow, boingboing.net

"A powerful and affecting book. The Quarry reaches a pitch of emotion that only a reader made of granite could read without tears."--Sunday Herald

"Banks was an extraordinary writer; in straight literary fiction and in his science fiction novels, he engaged the world with passion... For good reason, Banks's many fans will devour this book."--Library Journal

"Iain Banks's gift to us over nearly 30 books, a brilliant, piercing depiction of just how funny, stupid, pointless, infuriating, glorious, mind-bending, and inane life can be. And that's why he's been a constant inspiration to me as a novelist and a human being."--Independent on Sunday

"In Banks we had a novelist of supreme subtlety and one who...had an irrepressible sense of fun, that is evident on every page of The Quarry."--The Independent

"It's the testimony of a writer refusing to go quietly, Iain Banks has got the last word."--The Sunday Times

"Remarkable."--The Scotsman

"Some of the funniest writing Banks has ever produced. A writer who has the rare gift of being infallibly entertaining."--The Telegraph

"The book should comfort his fans in many ways, not least the rather hopeful ending and the almost belligerent way in which Guy remains true to his beliefs. Iain Banks may have just missed seeing his last book on the shelves but he can rest safe in the knowledge that what he has bequeathed us is something very fitting for such a stand-out career."--Express (4 Star Review)

"This is a novel that's perched at the dangerous edge of things, looking down. It's an urgent novel and an important one."--The Observer

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

"With its deadpan teen narrator and stern rural backdrop, it is hard not to find in The Quarry a trace of Banks's enduring debut novel The Wasp Factory and with it the closing of a literary circle... The Quarry is a fitting valediction."--TLS, review

The ingredients in this final novel by Scottish novelist Banks (The Hydrogen Sonata), who died June 9 at the age of 59, read like a grim recipe for disaster, but the book isn't one. Guy, a former golden boy who's never in his life finished anything he started, lives with his 18-year-year-old son, Kit. Guy is dying of cancer. Friends-they studied together at the "uni" years ago-visit for the weekend. None have made of themselves what they hoped to be. They're ill at ease around their dying friend and, for most of the stay, are whacked out on coke and alcohol. Guy's friends don't do much but argue. Nothing is resolved. (It's hard to win an argument with death.) Guy doesn't want to die: he takes out his anger on everyone around him but most of all on his son. Kit is the novel's triumph. Though autistic or near it, he's learned to live with his handicap and he's lovable and competent. Verdict Banks was an extraordinary writer; in straight literary fiction and in his fantasy novels, he engaged the world with passion. We'll miss him. For good reason, Banks's many fans will devour this book, which the author wrote after he was diagnosed this past March.-David Keymer, Modesto, CA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.