I found myself completely unable to establish any connection with the characters in this book.

It was as if there was an invisible barrier preventing me from engaging with their stories and emotions.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to get into it.

The narrative failed to draw me in, and I found myself constantly losing interest.

I would pick up the book with the intention of reading, but after a few pages, my mind would start to wander.

Eventually, I had to admit defeat and give up on finishing it.

It's a shame really, as I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

Perhaps someone else with different tastes and preferences might find it more enjoyable, but for me, it was a disappointment.

The main character, Ken, is indeed a rather complex and somewhat flawed individual.

He is highly opinionated, which is both a part of his nature and a requirement of his job as a'shock jock' at a London radio station. Interestingly, I found myself largely in agreement with his viewpoints. However, his flaws, such as his unfaithfulness and penchant for drunkenness, almost lead to his downfall on several occasions throughout the book.

Thankfully, Ken is a remarkable survivor, and he manages to maintain his charm and sense of humor despite his many shortcomings.

While this may not be Ian Banks' best work, it is important to note that even his worst efforts are still of a much higher quality than those of many other writers.

Perhaps the book could have been a hundred pages shorter without sacrificing any of its essence, but overall, it is still a fine read that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.

Apparently, this particular work is not regarded as one of Banks’ best.

Nor was it well reviewed upon its release. However, I found myself completely in love with it.

The dialogue is rich and engaging, filled with great characters that come to life on the page.

Each character has their own unique personality and voice, which makes for a truly captivating reading experience.

In addition to the wonderful characters, the storyline is also very good.

It keeps the reader hooked from beginning to end, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Overall, I would highly recommend this work to anyone who enjoys a good story with great characters and engaging dialogue.

Despite its initial lack of critical acclaim, it has become one of my personal favorites.

I believe that it is a hidden gem that deserves to be discovered and appreciated by more people.

This is an entertaining light read that delves into various aspects of 2002 London. It explores popular culture, with elements of drink, sex, and drugs, presenting a realistic portrait of the city. The glamour and dirt coexist, along with the ever-present traffic congestion. There is also angst over terrorism, a new enemy that emerged in the post-Troubles era following the 9/11 events.

I found the political rants quite engaging, especially the way Ken contradicts himself so readily. His thesis leans towards the liberal and permissive side. The moment when he punches a fascist is reminiscent of a similar scene in the US legal drama The Good Fight (season 3 episode 5).

The protagonist may not be likeable, but perhaps that's not the point. His "shocking" opinions, which are broadcast daily, are the kind that are now commonplace on social media platforms in 2019 and have even influenced the mainstream media narrative.

The storylines unfold and resolve in a fairly conventional manner according to society's moral code. What started out as seemingly fun promiscuity leads to emotional pain when betrayals come to light. The character appears to mature and discovers a deeper connection that goes beyond the excitement of the chase. At its core, the story is romantic, with either him rescuing the woman he loves or vice versa.

The most thought-provoking thriller I have ever had the pleasure of reading is undoubtedly the work of Iain Banks. He has an extraordinary ability to balance his wit, intelligence, character development, and suspense on a knife edge. It is truly a remarkable feat.

His deep understanding of the British psyche is simply astonishing. It allows him to create characters and storylines that pierce the reader to the core. The emotions and experiences he portrays are so vivid and real that it is impossible not to be affected.

Banks' writing style is engaging and captivating from the very first page. He weaves a web of mystery and intrigue that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat until the very end. His use of language is masterful, painting a vivid picture in the reader's mind and bringing the story to life.

In conclusion, Iain Banks is a true master of the thriller genre. His work is not only entertaining but also deeply thought-provoking, leaving a lasting impression on the reader. I would highly recommend his books to anyone looking for a thrilling and engaging read.

This is not the lowest rated Banks book on here. However, as far as I can see, few would seriously argue with you if you described it as his worst book.

A couple of dozen pages in, I was already pondering whether what I was reading would have ever been published if it hadn't been turned in by a well-established author. And by page 50, I was seriously considering abandoning it. I have read a decent number of Banks' works, both mainstream and SF, but I stopped after his death so that I wouldn't run out of his books too soon.

This is the first one I had started since then. Instead of binning it, I decided that as there were no more to come, even a minor Banks was better than no Banks. To a certain degree, my perseverance was rewarded. This is not the one-star read I thought it might be at the beginning. There is a pithy, comic thriller at the heart of this book, which is unfortunately obscured by a flabby, discursive approach. At the very least, it speaks of a light editorial touch.

It is difficult at times to tell whether the main character's rants are coming from him or if he is just a mouthpiece for Banks' own views. For a writer renowned for being likeable, it is odd that a character who seems to share much of his DNA isn't very charming (at least to this reader).

The actual plot is very slight, bulked out a bit by a subplot that results in a marvellous joke at a Holocaust denier's expense. The text is filled with references that should be massively out of date but still retain some vague relevancy. (Some more than others. I'm not sure there are many other books still in print that contain a joke based on a Cornershop song from their debut album.)

Despite its bagginess, it is very readable and much of the commentary still feels surprisingly (and in some cases depressingly) relevant. The less said about the phonetic rendering of a South London accent, the better, though. You might assume that there wasn't anyone involved in the publishing of the book who had ever spoken to someone from south of the river.

This book did not capture my attention in the same way that Whit did.

I really had to put in the effort to continue reading it. At times, I found myself struggling to stay engaged.

However, as I persisted, I gradually discovered that it had its own charm.

In the end, it was an enjoyable read, but it didn't have that compelling quality that would make it a must-read for me.

I can appreciate the story and the writing, but it didn't leave a lasting impression like some other books I've read.

Nevertheless, I'm glad I gave it a chance and was able to experience it for myself.

Maybe for some readers, it will be a favorite, but for me, it was just an okay read.

Boy, it seems that no one really likes this one very much, does it?

I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that a significant number of people find Banks to be somewhat polarizing at times. Beyond the cheeky rascals in his novels and his almost willful desire to avoid a conventional resolution, there are his sometimes bizarre situations. Coupled with a tendency towards a fairly unapologetically leftward political view, this either makes you embrace him as a brother or think that his novels are just thinly veiled political screeds, sometimes with spaceships.

This generally wasn't a big problem for me with most of his novels, and it didn't particularly bother me here. But the "political screed" crowd got plenty of ammunition when Banks made his protagonist a smug, atheist shock jock (or whatever they call them in England) who seems to not know when the microphone isn't near him and constantly rants to his friends and even strangers about his politics. In between those rants, the plot sort of happens. Needless to say, this isn't for the beginner Banks reader.

I think a lot of people (and the cover copy seems to lean towards that initial view) were drawn in by the idea that this was going to be a novel about the British view of the World Trade Center attack. The book does seem to go out of its way to encourage that, with the creepy cover featuring two tall smokestacks and a plane ominously passing by, and the opening scene where our narrator, Ken Nott, is at a wedding party that's going great until the news of the attack reaches England and suddenly no one is interested in dessert.

But beyond that, the book doesn't really address the attack directly, except obliquely or when it's used as a springboard for one of Ken's political lectures. On some level, this makes sense. Since it happened in another country across the ocean and no one he knows was killed, Ken's take seems to be, "Everyone is getting worked up over this, but worse stuff is happening every day around the world." Which is both true and a bit callous. Sometimes it makes me think that Banks is satirizing the seriousness and occasional pomposity of other novels that focus on the attacks by showing life going on as normal for people too far away to be directly affected.

And what does "life going on as normal" mean for a popular shock jock? Mostly hanging out with friends, toeing the line between satisfying and ticking off employers, and when the mood strikes, cheating on his girlfriend with a married woman (which is okay because she might be doing it too), among other things. All of this happens in a fairly aimless way, which is maybe my biggest complaint about the book. It just drifts along for so long that you start to wonder, "Where exactly are we going with this?" And since the book reads fairly quickly, you might be a lot further along than you'd like before you realize that you've just been hanging out with a left-wing narcissist in what might be a vain search for the plot.

A lot of this depends on either a) the charisma of the narrator or b) the likability of the supporting cast. And that's...iffy. Nott, as the narrator, has the usual witty voice of a Banks protagonist, and there's some glee in seeing him constantly skewer people and still walk away thinking he's right all the time. But the peeks into the radio show will probably turn a lot of people off, as many seem to think that Banks is forcing his politics on the unsuspecting reader. It's quite possible that he and Nott shared similar political views. I haven't read many interviews with Banks, but judging from other books of his that I've read, it seems to fit with the sentiments expressed elsewhere. However, I do believe that Banks was too good a writer to just make a character a mouthpiece for his personal views solely for the purpose of forcing them on us. I suspect he was trying to show the difference between how Nott perceives himself and what everyone else thinks of him. There's a brief scene later in the book where another character calls him out on his fearless contrarian warrior self-view by basically suggesting that maybe the rich guy who owns the radio station keeps him around because his antics distract everyone from the more objectionable stuff they're doing. Getting caught up in the politics themselves misses the point. It's about a guy who's so confident in his ability to know and see everything, to live his life purely by his own unassailable principles, that when his weaknesses start to catch up with him, it's like all the chickens are coming home to roost and they're all wearing tiny mirrors around their necks so he can see himself for what he really is.

However, as a caveat, I'll note that my personal politics and Nott's overlap in a couple of areas, so I couldn't get too offended. Plus, his whole thing is pissing people off, so it's supposed to be over the top. And even the stuff I disagreed with had some entertainment value. Plus, I can't get too mad at fictional characters for saying things I don't like, mostly because they're not real. There are plenty of real people saying offensive things that I can get mad at instead.

So for me, the real test is: is it boring? It's not, mostly because of how fast it reads. But with a cast of characters that you'll either feel neutral towards or actively dislike, you're not going to get too attached to anyone. The main thrust of the plot seems to eventually center around Ken's affair with the married woman, who, in typical Banks fashion, makes this as unconventional as possible, meeting him randomly at hotels and announcing her intentions via a key sent in the mail. Oh, and she's married to a crime boss. This seems to be the conflict that the novel hinges on, waiting for the other shoe to drop as Ken goes about his days making everyone mad at him and supremely confident that none of it will come back to bite him.

When it does, the results probably show off Banks' talents better than any other part of the book. Although what leads up to it is ludicrous and the solution even more insane, he does an excellent job of turning what amounts to a breaking and entering job into a nail-biting affair, ramping up the tension to the point where it actually starts to make you nervous. Later on, a confrontation is also almost unbearably tense, where you're waiting to see Ken taken down a peg but not wanting him to be completely destroyed either.

Still, the payoff to all that felt flat to me. It was a tacked-on happy ending that made me wonder what the whole point of the rest of the book was. Presumably, Banks couldn't bring himself to show an extremely confident and arrogant man eventually learning how to be a warm and cuddly person, since that suggests levels of sentiment that aren't usually his forte. (Plus, as real life shows us, when the arrogant get taken down, they usually blame everyone else for their failings.) So I give him credit for not going with the obvious crowd-pleasing route or even the more cynical, realistic route. What we do get is some uncomfortable blend of the two that doesn't quite feel earned based on what we've read before. It's not a really satisfying conclusion, but it doesn't make me go, "Oh, Iain Banks, you lovably contrary Scotsman" either.

Maybe it's been a while since I've read a Banks novel (I'm pretty sure this is my first since he died a few years ago), or maybe he was making some point about society that we've either moved past (the book was published in 2002, which in today's world feels like fifty years ago...these days, the shock jock would just limit his opinions to tweeting), or I'm too dense to get it, or maybe he was never able to really zero in on exactly what he was trying to say (or thought it was more obvious than it turned out to be). As I mentioned earlier, it's definitely not for the Banks novice, and while it does have its small pleasures, they're somewhat small this time around. Even if you don't like Iain Banks' science fiction, he has plenty of straight fiction that works better than this. Read it if you've read everything else (especially since we're not going to get anything new from him), but you can definitely safely put it pretty far down your reading list.

The book, to be honest, is only mildly amusing.

However, I really struggled to identify with the main protagonist. I suspect that he is meant to be a charming and cheeky chappy type. But in reality, he comes across as an absolute nightmare. He is an abusive misogynist, smug, self-centered, self-satisfied, duplicitous, aggressive, and treacherous shite. He is the worst kind of low life, thinking he is far too clever for his own good.

Unfortunately, he manages to avoid getting his just desserts. It's impossible to feel any anxiety when he is in danger because all you can hope for is that he finally gets what should have been coming to him all along.

To sum it up, I would definitely avoid reading this book again. It's just not worth the effort.

Chapter 11 was truly ridiculous. It was as if a completely different and rather absurd element was suddenly injected into the story, disrupting the flow and undermining the charm that had been built up in the previous chapters. From that point on until the very ending, it just seemed to trash the fun of most of the rest of the book. It was a real disappointment for me as a reader who had initially been quite engaged.

I consider myself a huge fan of Banksy, whose works always manage to convey powerful messages in unique and thought-provoking ways. However, this breathlessly paced pop fiction failed to live up to my expectations. The breakneck speed at which the story was told left little room for character development or in-depth exploration of the themes. It felt more like a rushed attempt to create a thrilling narrative rather than a well-crafted piece of literature.

Definitely a solid average book.

I really liked the characters in this book. They were well-developed and had their own unique personalities. However, the story itself was a bit of a meandering dull tale. It had moments of excitement here and there, but overall it didn't really grip me. It was kind of like real life, with its ups and downs and periods of boredom.

Despite this, I still think it's worth reading. The topics that it touches on are just as relevant today as they were when it was written. It makes you think about certain aspects of life and society. But it's not one of my absolute favourites. There are other books that I would recommend more highly.

All in all, it's an okay read. If you're looking for something that's not too challenging and has some interesting characters, then this might be the book for you. But if you're looking for a page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat, then you might want to look elsewhere.

Iain Banks often reminds me of Tarantino, and Dead Air is a prime example.

A significant portion of the book is devoted to expounding upon what were likely quite cool pop culture and political viewpoints back in 2002. My somewhat jaded and Twitter-weary brain initially reacted with a combination of snarky judgment and a paternalistic "aww, isn't that cute" attitude. However, this is perhaps more a reflection of the political and cultural decline over the past 20 years rather than a criticism of the book itself.

The reason it brings Tarantino's movies to mind, aside from serving as a platform for Banks to showcase his timely opinions, is the slow build-up of tension that leads to a spectacularly action-packed climax. The book accomplishes this remarkably well, although I did find the build-up to be just a bit too drawn out at times.

Nevertheless, it is an engaging read that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat until the very end.