What the critics (may have allegedly) said:

Dear Iain, please gain a little perspective and paint over your current social wallpaper; don your I heart Tony Blair t-shirt and form an orderly queue at the passport office.

What the monkey says:

Loved this! Admittedly this is my first foray into the world of Iain Banks (with or without the.M as I've never read any of his sci-fi either). It did precisely what it promised. The story is about a brash British shock jock, Ken Nott, and his eccentric antics. Pacey and engaging, it takes us through his life. Nott is like the congealed gunk from the underside of the News of the World staff canteen microwave. He smokes, snorts, and gurgles his way through London's media glitterati, leaving a trail of exploded verbal bombs and shagged women. At first, his journey seems lubricated by smugness. But this changes when he falls for a gangster's moll and, in a moment of lust-lorn stupidity, leaves a sloppy message on her answer phone. Now, it's a race against time as he tries to erase it before her hubby gets home and reacts, likely by parting him from his manhood. In summary, it's a story filled with booze, birds, sex, drugs, gob-shites, gangsters, and an improbable situation regarding an answering machine message.

I have only ever read one other Iain Banks novel, namely The Crow Road, which I truly liked.

However, this one did not meet my expectations. It is the dull story of a shock jock and his troubled love life, which includes entanglements with a London gangster.

Somehow, I had expected more from this book. Maybe it was because of the high regard I had for The Crow Road. But unfortunately, this novel just left me feeling flat.

The plot seemed to lack depth and excitement. The characters were not as engaging as I had hoped. I found myself struggling to get through the book, hoping that something would happen to make it more interesting.

In the end, I was disappointed. Iain Banks is a talented writer, but this book just didn't do it for me. I would not recommend it to others.

I'm truly not a devotee of this book. I'm laboriously trying to make my way through it.

I have no affection for any of the characters. They don't seem believable to me in the slightest, and the plot is so indistinct that it fails to capture my attention.

I'm only persisting with it because I've reached a stage where turning back is no longer an option.

If this were the very first Iain Banks book that I had ever read, I would most definitely not pick up another one.

It's quite a disappointment, really. The lack of engaging characters and a clear plot makes it a rather tiresome read.

I keep hoping that something will happen to make it more interesting, but so far, my hopes have been in vain.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it or not, but for now, I'm still plugging away.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but as it stands, this book just isn't doing it for me.

I have read every single one of Iain Banks' books, and typically, I read them in the very year they were published.

Since Iain Banks' fiction is highly representative of its era and filled with contemporary allusions, it is truly wonderful to have read them "in their time" and to understand that Iain was living in the same world as we are.

Moreover, it is fascinating to listen to how intelligently he reflects on and mirrors the years of our lives as we are living them.

Dead Air is precisely such a book. Published in 2002, the book is silent in the face of the shock of 9/11. The shock is so profound that Iain Banks does not refer to it in any other way except by showing the event on a television screen at the beginning of the narrative.

Dead Air serves as a good reflection of Britain in 2002. London was a prosperous city, overflowing with money and drugs. Shock jocks were a new phenomenon, and loft-living was extremely popular.

I didn't really like this book mainly because I didn't like the hero, Ken Nott, with his rants and his drug and booze-filled lifestyle. However, it was a captivating read, and I persevered until the end. As is always the case with Iain Banks, I thought it had many aspects worthy of recommendation.

September 11, 2001:

"What a brilliant excuse that's turned out to be, for so many things."
—Phil Ashby, p.128

If more people had been listening to Iain Banks' Dead Air in 2002, or simply listening to the silence that followed, rather than the chaos that filled the airwaves after 9/11 and the military misadventures of the Aughts, our 21st Century might have been a more peaceful and rational place. But unfortunately, Dead Air fell on deaf ears. At least in my part of the world, I didn't encounter this incandescent novel until 2016, when I found a second-hand copy in a great used bookstore.

It may still be too soon to fully appreciate Dead Air. Banks wrote it very quickly, clearly expressing his love and anger towards the United States, which he saw as going off the rails. The protagonist, Ken Nott, a displaced Scotsman and shock jock, shares Banks' views.

Ken is not an entirely admirable character. He's a serial adulterer and substance abuser, and not as independent a thinker as he claims. However, he generally sides with the angels.

Dead Air isn't all politics. It's also about Ken's relationships with his girlfriend, mates, on-air partner, boss, and the mysterious Celia. Banks' skill with dialogue and characterization shines through, even in Ken's off-air musings.

I don't think Dead Air received the recognition it deserved when it was published, and it may still be overlooked. But we should listen to Banks' words now, as we are still dealing with the same issues he wrote about.

Entertaining but Some Lengthy Thoughts

Entertainment is an essential part of our lives. It helps us relax, unwind, and escape from the daily grind. However, sometimes our thoughts about entertainment can become quite lengthy and complex.

We might find ourselves thinking about the various forms of entertainment available, such as movies, music, books, and video games. Each of these has its own unique appeal and can provide us with hours of enjoyment. But we may also start to question which ones are truly worth our time and money.

Moreover, our thoughts might turn to the impact that entertainment has on our lives. Does it have a positive or negative influence? Can it shape our values and beliefs? These are all important questions that require careful consideration.

In conclusion, while entertainment is undoubtedly entertaining, it also has the potential to引发一些冗长的思考. By taking the time to reflect on our relationship with entertainment, we can make more informed choices and ensure that it enriches our lives in a meaningful way.

I had come across some fairly decent reviews about this author. However, after reading this particular book, I truly don't think I would ever pick up another one of his works. I really struggled to get through it.

I managed to reach page 177, and I consider that a rather good effort on my part. The blurb on the book really doesn't provide much information at all. It partly states, "One man's political obsessions, manic media manipulations and wildly dangerous private life,...to a twinned climax of nail-shredding intensity." As it turns out, the blurb on the back of the book was far more exciting than the actual story within.

The author set his protagonist in the media industry, which held so much promise. But instead, he made him a Radio DJ who simply shares his opinions with his listeners for 2 hours. And mind you, this is after rehearsing this drivel with his friends first. It was just tiresome and repetitive rhetoric.

I simply wasn't engaged with the protagonist, nor with any of the women he fancied, and I wasn't interested in his so-called best friends either.

The one star that I gave is solely for the cover art, which I actually loved.

***SPOLIERS***

I did end up reading the last 10 pages just to find out what the climax was. It turns out that he was confronted by the man whose wife he was having an affair with. I'm not joking, that was it. He managed to get away from the husband relatively unharmed, and the woman was granted a divorce by her equally unfaithful husband. It was definitely not the nail-shredding intensity that the blurb had promised. In fact, it was just a very boring book from start to finish.

Dead Air is a story that unfolds in London at the dawn of the 2000s, shortly following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

The protagonist of this tale is Ken Nott, a radio shock jock. We are introduced to his numerous girlfriends, his colleagues from the radio station, and his two closest friends, Phil and Craig.

The term "Dead Air" is commonly used by radio DJs to describe the silence or dead pauses that occur during a live radio broadcast. Ken has a penchant for interviewing controversial figures on his show, like a Holocaust denier. He behaves somewhat like Howard Stern or Jerry Springer, constantly striving to generate a great deal of media attention.

Ken loves to go on rants and raves on his radio show, passionately promoting his left-wing politics and libertarian perspective. For the first half or so of the book, the story seems to progress at a steady pace. However, things start to take a more interesting turn when Ken becomes involved with Cecila, who is married to a London gangster. Towards the end of the book, there are several nail-biting chapters that keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

Personally, I didn't really warm to Ken, the main character. He is often depicted as being drunk, using cocaine, and finding himself in trouble with many shady characters. The book has a distinct early 2000s feel, with references to the current events and personalities of that era.

Interestingly, this book is included on Boxall’s “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” list.

Great fun - you're in the mind of a loudmouth radio DJ who, wait for it, bites off more than he can chew.

It's an exciting journey as we step into the shoes of this flamboyant character. The DJ's overconfidence leads him to take on challenges that are far beyond his capabilities.

The story unfolds at a brisk pace, just enough to keep the plot moving forward. We witness his hilarious misadventures and the chaos that ensues as he tries to handle situations that are way out of his league.

Despite his blunders, there's a certain charm to the DJ that makes us root for him. We can't help but be entertained by his larger-than-life personality and the absurd situations he finds himself in.

Overall, it's a lighthearted and enjoyable read that will have you laughing out loud and eager to see what the DJ will do next.

Historically, I have had difficulties with Iain Banks novels. Out of the four novels of his that I have started, three have ended up on my didn't-finish shelf.

Iain M. Banks, on the other hand, is a completely different case in my mind – his science-fiction I absolutely adore. So, it was with some hesitation that I ventured into another of Banks' non-science-fiction novels. However, Louise had a copy lying around, and it was listed in the 1 001 Books You Must Read Before You Die book. So, when it reached the top of my to-read list, I decided to give it a try.

Ken Nott is a radio DJ, a shock-jock, for a commercial London radio station called Capital Live! (not in any way supposed to sound like Capital FM, I suspect). He is argumentative, not overly likeable, and a bit of a womanizer. Somehow, Banks still manages to make him readable. For a start, he is clever (although not usually wise), and funny, and very quick with his responses, which do seem to distract you from his lack of any real moral fiber. When not insulting religious groups on his show, picking up women in bars, or drinking with his mates, he is cheating on his girlfriend with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, who just happens to be the wife of London's most notorious gangster. So, no chance of anything going wrong there then.

Dead Air is the term for any time when a radio station should be broadcasting something but is in fact silent. Generally, stations fear these gaps like people do awkward pauses in conversations, but some radio DJs deliberately use these gaps for effect. I wonder if, in this context, it is also trying to refer to something else? Empty airspace over London maybe? A pause in people's lives as the events of 9/11 hit them? Many reviewers have described this as a post-9/11 novel, and to an extent, it is – it is both written and set after that event. But it doesn't really seem to dwell on the event. It is mentioned briefly as the news breaks while most of the characters are at a party, and there are a couple of references to quieter skies and people feeling less trusting on the tube, but that's it. This isn't some huge 9/11 statement that I could see.

In fact, the biggest political section of the book is where Ken sets himself up against a holocaust denier, which has a quite long teased build-up, giving you lots of opportunity to try and work out his secret plan. Rather than lowering himself to arguing with the man on television, instead, just as the interview starts, he leaps across the table and punches the guy in the face. "What did you do that for?" Ken is asked, "Do what?" he says.

It's a slow starter, very slow; a couple of times, I really wondered if I was going to see the whole thing through or not. But as the book wore on, Ken wormed his way into my affections, and I started to care (a little bit anyway). It helped that the pace of the book picks up (slowly) as it progresses, and eventually, his life begins to truly fall apart. Most of the other characters are fairly thin, but we are seeing it from Ken's point-of-view, and he's a fairly shallow individual, so that actually kinda makes sense. The ending is a little too neat maybe, but maybe I've misjudged Iain Banks without the M., and I need to go restart some of those books that I gave up on before. Finally, surely at least some bonus points for managing to have an entire page and a half of text contained in a single set of parentheses – that's some side-statement!

Skim reading the last 130 pages, it was rather predictable and didn't offer much substance.

I'm glad I read it though, as it only further confirms to me, if I needed it, that those on the left side of the political spectrum seem to have lost touch.

They don't understand how they are involved in their government's actions and cultural commitments. They still hold onto a childish sense of moral innocence and superiority, a label they've given themselves.

When reality doesn't match their delusion, they throw tantrums and feign rage at an enemy they create. Then they beat themselves up about how bad the world is, thinking they could make it better if only people were like them.

In a way, it's a sad and tragic story. But I don't think it's the story Iain Banks was trying to tell. It's the story I'm telling about a failed narrative that unfortunately believes its own hype and truly thinks its standpoint is morally superior to others.

This is where we've gone wrong in the West, and we need to wake up quickly. Moral superiority leads to spiritual bankruptcy. This is the message I read between the lines of this story. It's a cautionary tale that should only be read if you're willing to tolerate over 400 pages of listening to the rantings of a liberal buffoon.

This book seems to be Ian Banks showing off his skills.

I can picture a debut author suggesting this book, with its lack of a clearly definable plot and hook, and it simply wouldn't succeed. However, because Banks is an established author, the writing alone is captivating enough to draw you in and maintain your interest. And indeed, some interesting events do occur along the way.

The blurb isn't very useful, but essentially, Dead Air is a character study of a man, a Scottish DJ with liberal views and a compulsion to create controversy, during the intense political climate following 9/11 (mostly American/globalist politics, I should add). Personally, I detest the politics of the protagonist, and I can see how it might put many people off. But rather than seeing it as a reflection of the author's views, it should be regarded as a study of the times. It's fascinating to look back and observe the new issues emerging, the old issues that have changed in nature since then (such as Ken's views on the inevitability of the euro), and the issues that were topical then but are now unheard of.

I think the style of Banks' narration here is a matter of personal preference. There were moments when I found it a bit irritating. For example, at around page 230, we get a multi-paragraph rant from Ken about the Israel-Palestine situation, which, on the sunny afternoon when I was reading it, felt a bit excessive. Nowadays, Banks would probably start a podcast rather than inserting this kind of thinking into his books. There are many scenes like this, but there is also something charming about it, like hearing an uncle go on an anti-monarchy rant in the middle of Christmas dinner. The commentary is a bit heavy-handed, but you have to admire the passion.

The DJ segments are extremely well-observed (there are a lot of these as the protagonist is a DJ), and the comedy is excellent throughout. This novel makes you laugh through sheer wit rather than blatant jokes or slapstick, and it's brilliant. Even towards the climax of the tension at the end of the novel, there are still plenty of laughs to be had. The narrative is influenced by Ken's own views of the world, and he is an enjoyably flawed character, a drug-addicted womanizer with masturbatory political opinions, yet at the core, a somewhat decent guy.

I'm not surprised that this book received a mixed critical reception at the time. But if you can overlook the issues mentioned above and are in the mood for a humorous read that is delightfully representative of its era, then you couldn't do much better than this.