Complicity

Style and Technique

Iain Banks’s style in «Complicity» is marked by sharp, nervous energy and an almost cinematic narrative drive. The language of the novel is rich in detail, precise and unsparing, like a razor exposing the inner worlds of the characters and the reality around them. Banks masterfully alternates narrative voices: the story is told both in the first person, conveying the subjective, ironic, and at times self-destructive inner monologue of journalist Cameron Colley, and in the impersonal second person, creating a sense of alienation and unease in the chapters devoted to the killer. This structure gives the novel a distinctive rhythm and tension, allowing the reader to plunge into the psychological depths of the characters while also observing events from a cold distance. Banks’s literary techniques—abrupt shifts in tempo, contrasts between inner reflection and external action, play with timelines, and allusions to popular culture—create a complex, multilayered narrative fabric. The language is laced with sarcasm, dark humor, and vivid, almost photographic descriptions, enabling the author not only to lay bare social wounds but also to give the story a particular sharpness and expressiveness.