The Business is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1999. The Business may mean: The Business, a British Sunday broadsheet newspaper The Business, a novel The Business, a band The Business, a term describing something that is excellent, or well-done. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 392 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (400 × 612 pixels, file size: 20 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Book cover for The Business (novel) by Iain Banks. ... Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... Cover of an early edition of the book Inversions is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1998. ... Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... This article is about the country. ... Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ...

Plot introduction

Kate Telman is a 'level 3' executive in the Business, a vast business empire. During her sabbatical year, she comes to suspect that some of her colleagues are stealing from the organisation, and investigates. A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an otherwise successful individual taken in order to fulfill some dream, e. ...

Plot summary

The book starts with a 4 a.m. phone call from Mike Daniels to Kathryn (Kate) Telman. He has been drugged, and about half of his teeth randomly and expertly extracted, just before an important meeting in Japan.

The Business is a powerful (yet democratic) multinational commercial organisation, secretive (but not too sinisterly so), and very long-lived. It predates the Roman Catholic Church, and descends from a consortium of merchants in the Roman Empire which it even briefly owned (it hired a man to become emperor, but he lasted less than a month before being assassinated). It is now considering taking over a country in order to gain a seat at the United Nations. A multinational corporation (MNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... UN and U.N. redirect here. ...

The story follows the heroine, Kate Telman, who is 38 and lusts after Stephen, who is married. Starting from poverty, she has risen through the Business under the tutelage of her mentor, who adopted her at an early age, and her 'uncle Freddy', the man who invented portable milk containers. This article is about the type of character. ...

She is investigating a possible case of someone stealing from the company, starting with strange happenings at a silicon chip manufacturing plant; in Business-speak, they suspect they are being couffabled. Although she discovers evidence of wrong-doing at a high level in the Business, she continues to believe in what they are doing as an organisation: Integrated circuit of Atmel Diopsis 740 System on Chip showing memory blocks, logic and input/output pads around the periphery Microchips with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. ...

"We're not a cover for the CIA. They're the Company, not the Business." The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...

She travels the world, at one point being summoned by a weapon-collecting higher-up in Nebraska to talk his nephew out of writing an incendiary anti-Islamic screenplay. A scene of the book takes place on a ship on its way to be broken up at a shipyard in Sonmiani Bay. She has several telephone conversations with her therapy-damaged friend Luce in California, who provides a cynical, suspicious, foul-mouthed counterpoint to Kate's goodheartedness. She is given a DVD of Stephen's wife having extra-marital sex in an attempt to influence her. Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Largest metro area Omaha Area  Ranked 16th  - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 0. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Sample from a screenplay, showing dialogue and action descriptions. ... Sonmiani Bay is located on the Arabian Sea in Lasbela District, Balochistan, Pakistan. ... Psychotherapy is an interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Largest metro area Greater Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

She also becomes involved in the acquisition of the small Himalayan country of Thulahn. Small and underdeveloped, bleak and vulnerable, the football pitch doubles as the airport, "the royal palace is heated by yak dung" and the "national sport is emigration". It resembles an exaggerated version of Bhutan or Nepal. For the movie Himalaya, see Himalaya (film). ... Football (soccer) - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ...

Under the Business's plan, Thulahn would be utterly changed, if not destroyed, and its people thrust into the modern world. Kate is given the job of negotiating with Thulahn's Crown Prince Suvinder Dzung, who falls in love with her. A Crown Prince or Crown Princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. ...

Literary significance & criticism

The Business has been described as a science fiction book set in the present day. As in Canal Dreams, Whit, and Against a Dark Background, Banks uses a female protagonist here. Canal Dreams is a novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1989. ... Whit, or, Isis amongst the unsaved is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1995. ... Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1993. ...

Part of Kate's job is to keep up to date with current technological developments, and Banks mentions lots of contemporary gadgets. Cars in particular (Freddy has a fine collection of vintage ones), and technology in general, are celebrated and described in detail here. References to DVD technology and flying on Concorde combine to date this book to a very narrow period. (In this it is like Dead Air). At one point, Telman tortures a Ferrari 355's engine to force a villain to confess, and owns an Audi A3. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Concorde (disambiguation). ... Dead air is a phenomenon whereby a broadcast which normally carries audio or video unintentionally becomes silent or blank (also known as unmodulated carrier). ... For the video game based on Ferrais one-make Challenge race see Ferrari F355 Challenge. ... The Audi A3 is the new BMW and an entry-level Noobluxury car / Wagonsmall family car produced by the German automaker Audi since 1996. ...

Kate's gradual falling in love with the place she is tasked to change beyond recognition is reminiscent of the 1983 film Local Hero. Local Hero is a 1983 British comedy film starring Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay, and Peter Riegert, and directed by Bill Forsyth. ...

Bibliography

The Business, Iain Banks, London : Little, Brown, 1999, ISBN 0-316-64844-2 (ISBN 0-316-84863-8 (paperback))

External links

• Doing the Business, Guardian interview
• A review
• Another review