Meh. This piece does have some good story telling elements. However, it was advertised as being related to 9/11, which is really quite a misnomer. In fact, upon closer inspection, it has very little to do with that tragic event. It seems as if the creators were perhaps trying to ride on the coattails of the significance and emotional impact of 9/11 to gain more attention for their work. But in doing so, they have misled the audience. The story itself might have had its own merits if it had been presented and promoted accurately. As it stands, the false advertising has left a bit of a sour taste in the mouths of those who were expecting something truly related to 9/11.

This work is by no means Ian Banks' best.

Ken Nott is portrayed as an overly self-important and boastful character. J, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a genuine concern about whether Ken finds love or even makes it to the end of the story.

However, there is a redeeming moment when Ken punches a holocaust denier and then denies it. This shows that perhaps no one is completely without value.

If we judge this work simply as 'just a novel', it can be given a solid 3 stars. But when measured against Banks' high standards, it falls short and is rather disappointing.

Overall, while it has its flaws, it still manages to hold some interest and offers a certain level of entertainment.

It will be interesting to see how Banks' future works compare to this one.

An overlong and uninspired plot that is filled with dull characters who respond to random events and engage in dumb things...

I'm certain there is a reason why Iain Banks has such a significant following. However, he must have had an off day when writing this particular work.

The main character, Ken, is a left-wing shock jock radio host. Although he is as nauseating as his character profile indicates he should be, he clearly believes he is something special, like a big bar of Dairy Milk. The radio call-in segments where he rants about various things are just cringe-inducing and feel like forced opportunities for an overeager Banks to express his own views. Meanwhile, his friends seem to be mere platforms for his own pursuit of pleasure.

The story, if one can even call it that, finally starts to gain some momentum in the final 100 pages or so. But this is not the result of a natural culmination of subtle and steady story building in the preceding chapters. Instead, Ken makes an incredibly stupid, drunken mistake and then has to find a way to resolve it. In all honesty, it's a rather ham-fisted attempt at working towards a climax.

All in all, "Dead Air" wasn't as clever as it appeared to think it was and was much longer than it needed to be. In fact, one might question if it needed to exist at all.

A couple of suspenseful set-pieces late in the book aren't really worth the nothing-much that leads up to them.

Banks is a truly fabulous science fiction novelist. His imagination knows no bounds, and he has the ability to create entire universes and complex characters that draw readers in.

However, his over-the-top scenario-plotting often seems pretty overblown when brought back down to earth. The elaborate storylines and convoluted twists that he devises sometimes feel forced and lack the grounding in reality that would make them more believable.

It's as if he is so caught up in creating the most exciting and mind-bending scenarios that he forgets about the importance of character development and plausibility. As a result, the reader is left with a sense of disappointment when the story fails to deliver on its initial promise.

Despite this flaw, Banks' work still has its merits. His writing is engaging and his ideas are often truly original. But he could benefit from a bit more restraint and a greater focus on the fundamentals of good storytelling.