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Title: Stonemouth

Author: Iain Banks

Narrator: Peter Kenny

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-05-12

Publisher: Hachette Audio UK

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth. After five years in exile, his presence is required at the funeral of patriarch Joe Murston, and even though the last time Stu saw the Murstons he was running for his life, staying away might be even more dangerous than turning up.

An estuary town north of Aberdeen, Stonemouth, with its five mile beach, can be beautiful on a sunny day. On a bleak one it can seem to offer little more than sea fog, gangsters, cheap drugs and a suspension bridge irresistible to suicides. And although there's supposed to be a temporary truce between Stewart and the town's biggest crime family, it's soon clear that only Stewart is taking this promise of peace seriously. Before long a quick drop into the cold grey Stoun begins to look like the soft option, and as he steps back into the minefield of his past to confront his guilt and all that it has lost him, Stu uncovers ever darker stories, and his homecoming takes a more lethal turn than even he had anticipated.

Tough, funny, fast-paced and touching, Stonemouth cracks open adolescence, love, brotherhood, and vengeance in a rite-of-passage novel like no other.

Members Reviews:

Another great Iain Banks story read by Peter Kenny

Where does Stonemouth rank among all the audiobooks youve listened to so far?

Top 20.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot moves swiftly (the book covers a 3 - 4 day period) and there are several unexpected events. The authors slow revelation of the main characters history was good.

What about Peter Kennys performance did you like?

Peter Kenny's performances are consistently good.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Some people never forgive....

Any additional comments?

More please.

strong characters with plenty of grit

Iain Banks is a genius and Peter Kenny presents his works perfectly. Kenny brings out every nuance and has a voice that seems to merge with the text and creates a full blooded technicolour rendition of the story.

No only is this a great audiobook, it is yet more evidence that we need to see the rest of Iain Banks' substantial bibliography brought online. Highly recommended.

Revenge and Regret on the Scottish Coast

Regarding Audiobooks, I have resisted the urge until this point as I have a dubious habit of poring over the intricately formed sentences that my favourite writers have created. I wasn't the least bit sure I would be able to concentrate on a storyteller reading to me at a pace I may not have been comfortable or familiar with. I wallow in fiction, especially when layered so carefully, as most of Banks' work undoubtedly is.

And Stonemouth is no different in this respect. Banks readers have been spoilt for years with the power of his ability to entrance and displace his readers into whatever world he has created for them. Here, in a small coastal town near Aberdeen, we meet Stewart Gilmour, tentatively creeping back home after being chased away five years previously for reasons that will become apparent. The slow burn narrative of the main plotline is the bone that the rest of Banks' flourishes cling to. And what flourishes! Stonemouth comes alive, witty and funny, bristling and feisty like its weather and the wake of its coast, spewing characters that are wonderfully imperfect and immaculately rendered.

The story is simple, but it is in the detail that fans will revel.