Stonemouth by Iain Banks

Stewart Gilmour returns home, after 5 years, to the small town of Stonemouth to attend a funeral, but only after getting permission from the Murstons, one of two gangster families that run things there. This being an Iain Banks book, the past functions almost as a character as well, and here it’s a while before we find out exactly how Stewart angered the Murstons in the past.

Stewart has enough to be concerned with in the present, as the amnesty he’s been extended doesn’t seem to affect some of the junior Murstons, and the whole thing might well be an elaborate trap anyway. But then there’s Ellie Murston, a lost love, the reason he’s returned, but part of why he left as well. Ellie doesn’t properly appear until the latter half of the book, but she’s ever present for Stewart.

Banks’ prose takes on a more spare quality here than usual, but though it appears clearer, he hasn’t lost his knack for keeping details hidden in plain sight. It’s not a major departure for Banks, but it’s a very compelling tale. [Michael Ireland]