Kit doesn't know who his mother is. What he does know, however, is that his father, Guy, is dying of cancer. Feeling his death is imminent, Guy gathers around him his oldest friends - or at least the friends with the most to lose by his death. Paul - the rising star in the Labour party who dreads the day a tape they all made at university might come to light; Alison and Robbie, corporate bunnies whose relationship is daily more fractious; Pris and Haze, once an item, now estranged, and finally Hol - friend, mentor, former lover and the only one who seemed to care.
But what will happen to Kit when Guy is gone? And why isn't Kit's mother in the picture? As the friends reunite for Guy's last days, old jealousies, affairs and lies come to light as Kit watches on.
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About Iain Banks
Reviews for The Quarry
William Leith
Evening Standard
The Quarry is not a book to be afraid of. It is a novel shot through with Banks' trademark humour, political engagement and humour . . . Banks has always been adept at evoking friendship, with its illogical loyalties and messes
Louise Welsh
The Times
It's a sign that in Banks we had a novelist of supreme subtlety and won who, in fiction as in life, and for all the concentrated horror of his debut novel, all the epic estrangements of his "skiffy" (sci-fi), and all the grimness of his final months, had an irrepressibly sense of fun that is evident on every page of The Quarry
Brian Morton
Independent
As always with Banks the dialogue is a sheer delight, whether it be baleful drink-and-drug fuelled reminiscence or bickering one-upmanship . . . It is the central characterisations that give the novel its power . . . Banks handles the challenge brilliantly . . . Despite his cruelty, most readers will adore Guy. It helps that his expletive-filled jeremiads comprise some of the funniest writing Banks has ever produced . . . But then for twenty-nine years Banks has made it his business to inspire sympathy for monsters . . . It may be this element of compassion that accounts for why so many readers are now experiencing a keen grief for the loss of a writer who has the rare gift of being infallibly entertaining
Jake Kerridge
Daily Telegraph
This is vintage Banks, full of heart, black comedy and vitriol, and is sure to delight his fans
Sunday Mirror