Iain M. Banks' "Transition"

A work of science fiction, but yet not clearly set in the "Culture" of his other science fiction novels, "Transition" is a clever playing on the concept of Rendition.  What would this policy look like if you could "transition" people between different realities via a specialized corps of assassins, torturers, and spies.  It raises many questions such as if a representative of the police breaks the law (by torturing someone for information) should that police member then be prosecuted to the full extent of the law?  Should this happen if the information that they found was valuable (ie saved human lives)?  A speculation on the 1% solution of Dick Cheney. The structure of the novel is somewhat disjointed, like the concept of "transitioning", where the narrative jumps around between a half-dozen or so perspectives only called by the most summary of listings; Patient 8272, the Transitionary, the Philosopher, etc.  Because of all of this skipping around both in narratives and in timelines, I found it much more enjoyable to read the book in one sitting (or as close as I could get).  Some books can be read slowly, in pieces, at a leisurely pace.  This is not one of them.  I read the first 100 pages and kept getting lost in the narrative.  Once I read it without many pauses, the details fell together much easier.  You shouldn't have to keep a notebook on what is going on in a novel!
Outside of that - it is an interesting story outlining the conflict between the two world views around the organization behind the transitions.  That is - should we use this power to promote a narrow, human-centric world view - or should we use it for more exploritory and galactic-friendly world view.  The latter, and more progressive view, is what ultimately wins out - which I guess tells us what Mr. Banks thinks of US-based Libertarians (who he calls out specifically by name).  A recommended read for anyone who has enjoyed his other works, but perhaps not the first Banks' book that I would recommend a new reader.