Rating: 
Summary: Great Deal
Review: Our Scottish heroine in the novel works for 'The Business', an organisation that has been around for a very long time. Hand picked as a young girl, she has grown to realise that she may be in deeper than she thinks. Another page turner by Iain Banks - you won't rest until it's finished.
Rating: 
Summary: Plot? What plot?
Review: Smooth writing, rapid pace, wonderful characters; all in all a really fun book--but it has a plot that wouldn't hold up a novella. Hell, I'm not even sure what the plot was supposed to be. Maybe buying a third-world country? But that always seemed to be in the background. The conspiracy thing? It dissapeared for a few hundred pages in the middle of the book. I don't know. It was fun, but when I get to page 300 and ask myself what the plot is, I think there's a problem.Why three stars, then? As I said, for sheer mechanics (other that plot) and readability it's a wonderful novel. And, as other Banks fans will attest to, even his occasional sub-par outing is better than most of the dross out there. As to the question of why Banks doesn't have the status in the States that he does in the UK, I would suggest it is the fact that he never does the same thing twice and that his books are, more often than not, somewhat downbeat. I don't think his SF output is responsable for this--in fact, all of his SF books have been published in the US, while many of his mainstream work has yet to make the transition (ie. Walking on Glass, Canal Dreams, Espedair Street, Crow Road, Whit). Also, he published three mainstream novels before Consider Phlebas (his first published SF), so any image of him as an author trying to escape SF is a misconception--moreover, he has stated that if he had to choose between mainstream and SF, he would choose the later. All his novels are still in-print in the UK, so if you're a Banks fan, go help Amazon.com's sister company.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable ride, plot largely irrelevant
Review: Such enjoyable and easy to read prose. Banks feels so comfortable and natural in what he's talking about, although he could easily sound nerdy or as if he's trying to show off with so many contemporary technology references. There's a bit of a background thriller plot of some covert illuminati 'Business' of vast wealth, power and history, but it is largely that, just background. The foreground is the ramblings and reflections of the central character, a technology investment advisor in her late 30s. She's smart and won't compromise her views to flatter anyone, despite stating them with wit and respect. We get to like her and some of her close friends, and are buoyed along by settings and activities of outrageous extravagance and opulence. I found the thriller ending a bit unconvincing: I suspect Banks doesn?t want to insult his readers by spelling it out too much (something which makes him far more enjoyable to spend time with that the usual blunt Clancy's et. al), but the crucial 'clue' to me seemed pretty weak. Also our heroine seemed foolish in her final confrontation - just created a powerful foe without giving herself any protection as far as I could see. But if we leave the thriller conclusion aside (which we can with Banks), the ride is quite enjoyable enough on its own. There's a bit of the 'noble savage' myth happening with the visit to a poorer country, but it's still interesting that he even bothers to juxtapose the two worlds. Banks seems to enjoy playing with cool characters with massive wealth and power, the most extreme I've seen being the 'culture' of some of his excellent SF novels (when he adds his middle initial 'M' to differentiate), but it's also there with his millionaire bassist in Espedair Street.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but not his best book
Review: The "business" of the title is a vast two-thousand-year-old entity that has been around since early in the life of the Roman Empire. However, this is not an "Illuminatus" novel; there is no conspiracy to take over the world here; no secret cabal controlling presidents and monarchs; no "Protocol of the Elders of Zion". This is a business, and they just want to make money. Of course they do it on scale that even General Motors might envy; much of the book's plot turns on their desire to get a seat at the UN by getting control of one of the tinier nations. (Quite openly, and with the agreement of that nation's government.) The protagonist is Kathryn Telman, adopted into the business at an early age, and now, at 38, a rising executive with a sharp eye for company politics and a strong sense of ethics. She is faced with several ethical choices in "The Business", and she makes, by and large, intelligent decisions. However, the book is also, in a quiet way, a political thriller, and though there are no actual dead bodies, there is certainly some skulduggery for Kathryn to get to the bottom of. One of Banks' greatest assets is his ability to weld a good story to a worthwhile problem, and tell the whole thing entertainingly. "The Business" is no exception. It's not his best book: I'd recommend "The Bridge" or "Complicity" if you want to start somewhere else, or "The Player of Games" if you like science fiction; but it's a fine, smooth, and thought-provoking read.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad... Could be a lot better...
Review: The Business is not a bad book but it is does not have what I've come to expect from a Banks novel. I am actually a reader of books written by "M." Banks (i.e. a Culture fan). This book is the third non-scifi novel I've read from Banks, the others being a Song of Stone and Complicity. The backdrop for this novel, involving a discreet outfit of businesspeople with a long history deciding to buy a small nation in order to have a corporate HQ and other fringe benefits such as a seat in the UN and diplomatic passports, sounded pretty interesting. The fact that it was Banks telling the story had the promise of fine woven details and a mind boggling plot. The nice touches are there but the main plot was, well, straightforward. In the presence of masterpieces like Use of Weapons, Feersum Endjinn and Complicity, the plot in this book doesn't do justice neither to the reputation of the author nor to the potential of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: pretty good...
Review: The reality that Banks portrays in 'The Business' is no less strange than those of his sci-fi novels; this really is science fiction set in the present. But it is Banks's brand of science-fiction; the characters are deep and fascinating, neither good nor evil, and the plot at times verges on the unbelievable but is skillfully carried to the end of the novel, before collapsing into nothingness in a way readers of Banks's Sci-fi will recognise. It is usually at this point that you realise that what you've been reading is not really a story with a plot as such, but a cleverly disguised desription of places and people and, in this case, a secret society predating the Christian Church. As with a lot of Banks, it's best to sit back and enjoy the world and characters he creates; what happens along the way is almost incidental. Not brilliant, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a good book!
Review: The story is entertaining. The commentary is alternately scathing and profound. There's a salient and relevant lesson in the end. You should read this.
Rating:
Summary: Get this book as fast as you can!
Review: This book was sooo good. Iain Banks has created a heroine for even the most accomplished woman. If only women got roles like this in the movies. Kudos to the author for creating Kate, a truly cosmopolitan character that epitomizes what we wordly women truly aspire to be: savvy and mysterious, smart and powerful, fun and heroic. I read this book while I was in London years ago and to this day, this book inspires me. A fast read, a wonderful read. So much fun. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Grippiong Stuff
Review: This is an excellent read that kept me rivetted to it and desperate to get an opportunity to carry on reading when I had to stop (I was reading it on the train, the bus, and even at my desk in my lunchbreak). The business is an ancient shadowy organisation that has strange things going on inside it that go all the way to the top. The hero(ine) is an unwitting pawn in some of this and you move through a twisty maze of cluse to the denouement.
Rating:
Summary: Doin' ' The Business '
Review: This is by no means his best writing however it's a much better book than it lets on to be and unlike a previous reviewer I rather liked the fact that we get hardly any insight into the mechinations of ' The Business .'
Telman's character is believable and it's an interesting enough journey she takes us on albeit a little too superficial. Once again though Mr. Bank's can't quite capture the nuance and timber of North American dialogue in spite of his brilliant skills in so many other ways.
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