IAIN BANKS Stonemouth ***

If I was writing a school report on Iain Banks it would say, “Could do better” (like all my school reports).

It’s a good read, but I felt Iain Banks’s heart wasn’t in it.

Stewart Gilmour is back in the town of Stonemouth, near Aberdeen, for a funeral. He’s been allowed back for the weekend after five years of exile in London.

What annoyed me is that although it’s told in the first person, information is deliberately kept from us, although there’s no reason why Stewart would do that.

But it soon emerges that it’s to do with his relationship with the beautiful Ellie, the daughter of the town’s biggest crime family, and the dishonour he is deemed to have brought upon them.

It’s exciting and it’s funny, but it’s not Iain Banks at his best.