The Quarry (Banks novel)

The Quarry represents the last novel by Iain Banks, released posthumously in June 2013. The narrative follows Kit, a young individual on the autism spectrum, alongside his father Guy, a misanthropic man confronting terminal cancer.

Banks passed away on 9 June 2013 during the final stages of the book's publication process. Having only recently discovered his advanced gall bladder cancer, he wove his personal confrontation with the disease into the storyline. At Banks's insistence, the book's release was accelerated to 20 June 2013 in the United Kingdom and 25 June 2013 in the United States.

Hannah McGill, writing for The Scotsman, characterized the novel as "a state-of-the-self book, a meaning-of-life book," capturing the essence of Banks's own situation while composing it.