Adrian Turpin
The Concern
A nameless man lies in a hospital bed. A shadowy organisation runs the world. A boy grows up in a religious sect. Fans of Iain Banks will find him revisiting quite a lot of old ground in his new novel. The Bridge, The Business and Whit are just three previous fictions that this book self-consciously echoes. Throw in a dodgy capitalist geezer, some extreme sadism and a few high-definition sex scenes and what we have is the literary equivalent of a greatest hits album.
Yet, despite the familiarity of some of its elements, Transition does seem to represent a departure in a couple of ways. First, it attempts to cross the divide between the work of the literary novelist Iain Banks and his alter ego, the sci-fi writer Iain M Banks. Second,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'The trick of a successful mercenary ... was somehow to get on almost as well with your enemies as your allies, since those two positions could be reversed at dizzying speed.'
Sarah Dunant on the life of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/scholar-in-arms
'McDormand has come closer to Lady Macbeth in some of her previous grimly comic performances ... Here she can convey only the banality of evil, as when she fussily curtails the banquet after Macbeth’s hallucination.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/come-thick-night
'"Extinct" comprises eighty-five essays on defunct objects, from arsenic wallpaper to the Zeppelin. The format does not immediately inspire confidence ... but "Extinct" turns out to be more satisfying than one might expect.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ode-to-an-ashtray