First published 2013. Abacus paperback, 2014, pp 374, c.115,000 words.
A group of university friends gather at a house owned by one of them for a weekend reunion. The house is falling apart, and the house owner has a son ‘on the spectrum’, i.e. (mildly) autistic, and it is through his eyes we witness the goings on. As around twenty years have passed since they first met, lives have diverged and occasionally merged. Some now have respectable careers, others not so respectable. Then there is a video tape they made long ago that they are all keen to destroy, but it seems to have gone missing in the chaos of the house.
With this set-up, Banks leads us through the weekend, revealing and concealing. Much fun is had amidst the mayhem. It becomes clear that the book’s title has multiple meanings.
The characters are a likable and completely believable bunch of rogues, but would one really want any of them as friends? Banks has great fun setting them up and against each other. The sanest one amongst them is, of course, the autistic son. The locations are simply sketched in and provide suitable atmosphere.
Banks is a superb writer and he is on top form here. Thoroughly entertaining.
© William John Graham, May 2022