'A poisoned bonbon, a bitter fairy tale' Independent

Kate Telman is a senior executive officer in The Business, a powerful and massively discreet transglobal organisation. Financially transparent, internally democratic and disavowing conventional familial inheritance, the character of The Business seems, even to Kate, to be vague to the point of invisibility. It possesses, allegedly, a book of Leonardo cartoons, several sets of Crown Jewels and wants to buy its own State in order to acquire a seat at the United Nations.

Kate's job is to keep abreast of current technological developments and her global reach encompasses Silicon Valley, a ranch in Nebraska, the firm's secretive Swiss headquarters, and a remote Himalayan principality. In the course of her journey Kate must peel away layers of emotional insulation and the assumptions of a lifetime. She must learn to keep her world at arm's length. To take control, she has to do The Business.


Praise for Iain Banks:

'The most imaginative novelist of his generation' The Times

'His verve and talent will always be recognised, and his work will always find and enthral new readers' Ken MacLeod, Guardian

'His work was mordant, surreal, and fiercely intelligent' Neil Gaiman

'An exceptional wordsmith' Scotsman

* Contemporary - and how! - novel by 'the most imaginative British novelist of his generation' - The Times

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 gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both his mainstream and his science fiction novels. Iain Banks died in June 2013.

Reviews
A poisoned bonbon, a bitter fairy tale... Written with enormous energy, crunchy wit and more curves than an alpine road * Independent *
A highly inventive piece of work, amusing and sinister by turns... crammed with arresting conceits and surprises... any chapter of The Business, picked at random, will give an idea of Iain Bank's merits: the technical pizzazz, the profound compassion, above all an understanding of the way the world works ripe to confound the average English novelist who thinks that 'science' is simply a noisy irrelevance * Guardian *
It is impressive to find a British writer with such evident range... intellectually exhilarating * Observer *
Imagination, wit and complexity are Banks' hallmarks and The Business is no exception * The Times *
Eng. Lit. for the age of www * Independent on Sunday *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349139227
Author Iain Banks
Format Paperback
Page Count 400
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 272g
Dimensions(mm) 199mm * 141mm * 27mm