Am I the only one who hated this book? It's a grotesque, rambling and ultimately pointless excursion into the minds of a couple of animal-torturing psychotics. I kept reading only the hope that they would both come to a horrible end, but was disappointed even there. There is no deeper meaning or startling insights here. The characters had absolutely no redeeming features and the ending was contrived and resolved nothing. We don't need to read about people like this, there are enough crazies in the real world. It's the second of Banks' books I have read, and will definitely be the last.