Well, it's not the best Iain Banks novel, but it's not the worst either. My attitude may have been affected by having the deep dark family secret spoiled for me by, I think, the Guardian's Digested Read, so I embarked on this with a certain sense dour dutifulness, as it was the one Iain Banks novel I hadn't yet read and I felt almost obliged to read the damn thing.

Thing is, most of it is perfectly fine. It's a family novel, very much in line with Crow Road, Stonemouth and even Wit, I suppose. Our young hero is the member of a fabulously wealthy family who produce a world famous game. He got annoyed with either the family or the business and buggered off to cut down trees for a few years, but now he's lured back for a special party and EGM which revolves around selling the company to the Yanks. As an adolescent he had a brief but torrid affair with his cousin Sophie, and he still isn't quite over it. Or her.

So, tangled familial issues, lost love, big business, young protagonist with liberal notions - at one point he lectures an American executive at length about the evils of the Iraq War, in what is probably the worst bit of the book - and a long-buried secret. All familiar elements, and Banks handles them all with the usual skill and aplomb. It's no Crow Road, but it's Song Of Stone either.