The first novel by Christopher Brookmyre to feature Fair Cop Angelique de Xavia as the heroine, it also suffered from 9/11-related bad timing for its original strapline "Terrorism is the new Rock'n'Roll". Moving on...
Raymond Ash is a thirtysomething former indie musician and game-store entrepreneur, now making a living as an English teacher, a task made no easier by his pupils or the colicky new baby that constantly gets between him, his partner, and sleep. And then one day he sees a face from the past that can't possibly be there. And then plot ensued.
Angelique de Xavia is a short, short-tempered, ethnic minority Glaswegian policewoman who finds herself on the trail of a bigger target than she'd expected - and with about as much backing up and support as you'd expect under her circumstances.
And then it all comes together, and to a head.
Tropes present in this work:
- Establishing Character Moment: Ray recognizes Simon at the airport because of his characteristic way of walking as if wearing a cape and with people "blawin' trumpets either side of the doorway'."
- I Just Want to Be Special: Several characters, with Angelique the main exception and Simon as Exhibit A.
- It's All About Me: Simon Darcourt all the way. He always wants his own way and cannot bear it if he is not the center of attention at all times. One of his early targets found out the hard way that taking credit for his work is a very bad idea.
- Meaningful Name: Rank Bajin. Which is also punny.
- The Nicknamer: Simon, a malign version.
- Serial Killings, Specific Target: The chief villain kills everyone on a passenger jet simply in order to fake his own death.
- Shout-Out: Simon Darcourt is named after a character in Canadian author Robertson Davies' Cornish trilogy - though he does not resemble him much. At all. In any way.
- International arms dealer Shaloub "On a sunny day like this, however, you can call me Shub" N'gurath is a Quake shout out—as well as the Cthulhu Mythos.
- Simon's assumed name for his assignment, Gordon Freeman, is a shout out to Half-Life, as is the name of the power station the climax takes place in, Dubh Ardrain, which is (roughly) the Scots Gaelic for Black Mesa.
- Also Half-Life, the SAS Captain is one Adrian Shepard.
- Sociopathic Hero: What "The Dark Spirit" thinks he is. Angelique has another theory: "He's a total wanker".
- The Tetris Effect: Raymond Ash has just survived an assassination attempt by diving into a river. The next chapter featuring him opens with him making his way towards a ladder out of the water... and he hears the sound of a quad-damage powerup, and now his attackers are carrying railguns instead of handguns. He wakes up, realizes that he'd conflated the events of the previous night with a computer game, and recalls the times when he was playing another game, would spot a fire extinguisher or barrel and automatically think "switch to melee" to blow his way into the next room.
- Villain Opening Scene: The first chapter is from Simon's POV.
- Violent Glaswegian: Angelique, though more in the literal sense than the trope sense.
- "This is police brutality, ya fuckin' black bitch."
"No it's not. But you call me that again and I'll show you what is."
- "This is police brutality, ya fuckin' black bitch."
