Iain Banks without an 'M' in the middle of his name, so this is contemporary fiction in a black-and-white cover, rather than science fiction with coloured spaceships on the front. It concerns the activities of a vastly wealthy and powerful corporation which has existed secretly since the time of the Roman Empire. Kate Telman, the protagonist, has been reared by the eponymous Business since childhood, and is now a high-flying junior executive. She begins to get the suspicion that not all is as it seems, and that not all her superiors are playing for the same team... during the process of investigation, she also finds out what it is that she really wants out of life.
This is a very slight novel: the plot is thin, the development sketchy, and the characters lively but not deeply explored. The Business itself is an interesting idea, and Banks's explanation of how it works and what it does stands up reasonably well. But the book is really a story idea extended to novel length. Banks is diverting and engaging as ever (the section unfolding in a remote Himalayan kingdom is very entertaining but as travelogue rather than exposition), Kate herself is enjoyable and sympathetic, but the dilemmas she has to face and the decisions she has to make are not really all that interesting.
Lots of 'but's in that last paragraph. Basically, if you like Banks's writing, you will find this book reasonably enjoyable. He's just marking time, though. Let's have a proper book next time!
