Nott that great... (Dead Air - Iain Banks)

Member Name: xBorgx

Product:	Dead Air - Iain Banks
Date:	22/08/09 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written

Disadvantages: A waste of great prose...

Ken Nott is a successful radio DJ in London. Of Scottish origins, he hosts one of those radio talk shows in which people phone in and have a rant about various topics and Ken and his producer Phil take the Mickey. Divorced and in his thirties, Ken has a girlfriend, lots of drinking partners and is generally happy with his life. Until, that is, Celia enters comes on the scene. He meets her at a party and immediately falls for her, as she appears to do him. The only thing is though, that she is married to a London gang boss. They agree to meet in secret for sex in various hotels in London. This is very risky, as Celia's husband is quite a dangerous man, and not the sort of person you cross.

One evening when Ken is out with his drinking partners, he goes home with a lady he picks up, only to realise (whilst in the taxi) she has tried to drug him and he is being kidnapped. He manages to get away, but starts becoming extremely paranoid. He almost buys himself a gun, this paranoia is so tense. He feels that Celia's husband set him up, but she assures him that he knows nothing of their affair.

As a sub plot, Ken has been invited onto a TV talk show to talk to a Nazi who has theories as to how so many Jews were never actually killed. Ken has a few tricks up his sleeve and intends to tell this nazi what he thinks of such assumptions - but I won't let you know what he does to the nazi...

Then when Ken's girlfriend ends their relationship, and other things start to happen around him, he gets bladdered and leaves a message on Celia's home phone declaring his love for her. The next day he realises what he has done and he wonders what the hell he is going to do to save his skin!

The above (without giving too much of the 'fun' away) is the basic plot to this 2002 book by Scottish author Iain Banks. Not much plot, but then that is not really what this book is about. The 'plot' is interceded with rants. Ken Nott's rants. Or should that be Mr Banks' rants? The character is a Chris Moyles type of DJ, full of himself and full of how everything is wrong and how things should be. He discusses politics, religion - oh, just about everything - not only during his shows, but to friends, us the reader and anyone who will listen. - and the reader feels that these are the author's theories. Then again I might be wrong.

Although you cannot fault his style of writing, you can his topic. It is written very well, but what is told is not too interesting. This is a shame because Iain Banks has written some very good books in the past and he is one of my favourite writers. Some of you might have heard of his other books, such as 'The Crow Road' (which was made into a TV series), 'Whit', and his controversial debut 'The Wasp Factory.'

'Dead Air' is not a REALLY bad book, it is just a BIG let down.

What let's this book down is the rants, the weak plot and the fact that you just don't like Ken Nott... at all! Thankfully this was just a temporary glitch, as the next novels were much better...


This review also appears on Ciao UK by me as Borg...

Summary: Ok, but a let down, not up to his usual standard...