Each chapter of the book covers one or more of the six main protagonists—Lededje Y'breq, a chattel slave; Joiler Veppers, an industrialist and playboy; Gyorni Vatueil, a soldier; Prin and Chay, Pavulean academics; and Yime Nsokyi, a Quietus agent.

The outcome of the simulated war will determine whether societies are allowed to run artificial Hells, virtual afterlives in which the mind-states of the dead are tortured.

Prin succeeds in getting out, but has to leave his partner Chay behind, where she is tortured, restored to some semblance of sanity, and finally given a role as an angel in Hell who is able to release one soul a day by killing them.

Y'breq travels back to Sichult on the Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints, an advanced and "very slightly psychotic" Culture warship.

Roz Kaveney of The Independent said that this was a poor book to introduce new readers to the Culture, but "far from the worst introduction to Banks's series.

"[4] Alastair Mabbott of The Herald described the story as having "murder, revenge, pursuit and subterfuge taking place against a backdrop of escalating tension [that] stands up very well, and makes the prospect of further books in the Culture series somewhat less imposing.

"[6] On an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2022, the artist Grimes said that Surface Detail is the greatest science fiction book ever written.