The Business - Iain Banks Reviews

I have always thought that when he puts his mind to it, Banks writes women very well. In this book, The character of Telman absolutely charms the reader with her dry wit, and amusing sarcasm. The story itself concerns a millennia spanning corporation that has been influencing geo-politics and economic developments since the times of ...  Read the complete review

With the current collapse of the World Economy there has never been a better time to investigate globalisation and the integration of companies into giant world spanning conglomerates. No longer do you need a butterfly to flap its wings in the Rainforest for the world to change; it's easier for someone in Brazil to go directly to the source and ...  Read the complete review

Every Iain Banks book is different, if there's one constancy about his writing it's the inconstancy of his stories. 'The Business' conforms to this non-comfortity, with a story that is surprisingly straighforward and with a deft touch of unexpected romance. The eponymous Business are a near invisible corporation that have ...  Read the complete review

Iain Banks novel, The Business seems to have got a bit of a mixed reception here in Dooyoo - I am one of the book's advocates but once you've read my op I'd suggest you look at some others for balance! "The Business" is a multi-national organisation who's origins predate the Chrisitian Church. It is basically the ...  Read the complete review

I've just finished reading The Business, and while I'm not a Banks die-hard, I had enjoyed his Complicity, and was looking forward to this. On the whole, I was disappointed. While Complicity was much more than a thriller, The Business I found to be comparable to the output of writers inferior to Banks. I'm sure there were many ...  Read the complete review

This novel starts with a common conceit for any conspiracy theorist, an all powerful shadowy organisation, that controls all, although in this case influences is probably more accurate. It them moves on from this ingenious premise to broaden out into a study of how this business has affected and influenced one woman's life from the Glasgow ...  Read the complete review

Lured by good reviews and my own liking of other Banks novels, I bought this as a holiday read. Unfortunately, the novel was a disappointment. The heroine works for The Business, a kind of mafia/microsoft/IBM/cocacola all rolled into one, a enormous company with interests all over the world. The book starts as if it means to be a thriller ...  Read the complete review

Having read most of his other books I eagerly awaited my holiday and a chance to immerse myself in one of Banks's latest productions, a smooth start and I soon felt as if I knew the modern living, hard but fair business woman who seemed to wield as much power as the premier of a small country, needless to say her actions throughout enhance ...  Read the complete review

Rather an apathetic effort from Banks this time and not one by which to judge his other novels. The Business uses the backdrop of a secret organisation which has been pulling all the strings since the early Roman Empire to explore his characters, their motives and actions. It doesn't quite hang together though, and the reason d'etre of ...  Read the complete review

Ian Banks just doesn't seem to write boring books. All his fiction (non science fiction that is) stories seem to be written in a world that could probably be set in this world but seem to be in a parallel one. The Business is his latest brought to paperback and certainly whips along trying subtly to get you to guess the outcome all ...  Read the complete review

Given the mayhem of some of Banks' other works, 'The Business' is intriguing in that very little actually happens in it. The most important thing is the idea, a company which has existed since the era of the ancient Roman empire, whose influence stretches across the world and into every avenue of life. The book is narrated by Kate ...  Read the complete review