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Over the last 30 years, Scotland has produced several eclectic bands who have left some influential traces in the general evolution of rock music: The Jesus and Mary Chain; Primal Scream; Cocteau Twins; Belle and Sebastien; even Franz Ferdinand. When I first approached Banks with this novel, I wondered whether the same eclecticism existed in contemporary Scottish literature. I started to feel my ears (and eyes) pricking up when his main protagonist, Gonzo journalist Cameron Colley, used a Pixies tape in his car to keep him awake on a nightly drive home. Banks, in depicting Colley, lived up to the Gonzo ethics: very little objectivity, strong social critique, self-deprecating humor, constant reference to personal experiences (including illicit ones), first-person narration (except for the murderer, which is interestingly in the second person), frequent use of profanity. Without spoiling the story, I would say that the murder mystery plot was quite interesting, intricate but still linear, and that the character development was well executed. I have no issues with the language or the sexual content of the novel (it pales in comparison to American Psycho). Not a dull moment throughout the book. If this is apparently not his best novel, I look forward to reading some more Banks.