A world that hangs suspended between triumph and catastrophe,
between the dismantling of the Wall and the fall of the Twin
Towers, frozen in the shadow of suicide terrorism and global
financial collapse, such a world requires a firm hand and a guiding
light. But does it need the Concern: an all-powerful organisation
with a malevolent presiding genius, pervasive influence and
numberless invisible operatives in possession of extraordinary
powers? On the Concern''s books are Temudjin Oh, an un-killable
assassin who journeys between the peaks of Nepal, a version of
Victorian London and the dark palaces of Venice; and a nameless,
faceless torturer known only as the Philosopher. And then there''s
the renegade Mrs Mulverhill, who recruits rebels to her side; and
Patient 8262, hiding out from a dirty past in a forgotten hospital
ward. As these vivid, strange and sensuous worlds circle and
collide, the implications of turning traitor to the Concern become
horribly apparent, and an unstable universe is set on a dizzying
course.
關於作者:
Iain Banks came to widespread and controversial public notice
with the publication of his first novel, THE WASP FACTORY, in 1984.
He has since gained enormous popular and critical acclaim for both
his mainstream and his science fiction novels.