Then she is needed in London, where Simon Darcourt—who was supposed to have died in their confrontation at the end of "A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away"—is back on the scene, with a new specialization: broadcasting videos of the torture (and, sometimes, deaths) of celebrities he has kidnapped.

Nevertheless, it is one of two Brookmyre novels chosen for discussion by Len Wanner in his 2015 book Tartan Noir: The Definitive Guide to Scottish Crime Fiction (the other being the very first, Quite Ugly One Morning).

Wanner focuses on it because of "the moral quality of Brookmyre's narrative strategy" of presenting much of the story in the voice of the "Sadean" (not merely sadistic but like the Marquis himself) philosopher-terrorist Simon Darcourt.

Angelique de Xavia, through all three novels, provides "a distinctive take on racism, sectarianism, and elective loyalties," representing the "post-colonial detective" studied by Ed Christian and Peter Clandfield.

Another retrospective theme for all three novels emerges in the comparison between the artisanal, entertaining magic Zal performs and Simon's self-congratulatory cleverness as a murderer.