John Crace's satirical Digested read columns have become a Guardian institution, reducing the most newsworthy books of the year to an essential 600 words.
Here, he takes on Iain Banks's final novel, The Quarry, written as Banks himself was dying of cancer.
The revered Scottish novelist, who wrote literary and science fiction under different names, was one of a stream of literary greats to die in 2013 - and he handled his last months with characteristic elan, inspiring an outpouring of love from friends and fans with his announcement that he was "officially very poorly".
This might appear to make him an unlikely target for satire, but Crace explains why it's important for the dedicated satirist to venture where others fear to tread, and it's a mistake to assume it's a genre fuelled solely by contempt.
Reading list:
The Quarry by Iain Banks (Little, Brown)
The digested Banks – as it was written
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