Brookmyre returning to form, a bit. I was quite unimpressed by Unsinkable Rubber Ducks; the plot was a bit thin and he went overboard on the editorialising. Here, the editorialising is still present, but it's less annoying, and we return to the conventional Brookmyre plot of "an utterly implausible high-profile surrealist terrorist campaign"; a serial killer trying to murder vapid celebrities. No Jack Parlabane, which usually bodes well, and we get the characters from Sacred Art of Stealing back.

It's a little too high-profile & ludicrous for my liking - live televised assassinations and a phone-in to choose the next victim? - but it's good to see him beginning to get back to what we wanted.

Another superbly funny and biting satire from Christopher Brookmyre. The presumed dead deranged terrorist/psychopathic killer Simon Darcourt reappears slaughtering 'B' and 'C' list celberities. Once again Angelique de Xavier, the Ugandan Asian Glaswegian uber policewoman in on his trail, reuniting with her erwhile lover, Zal Innes, in order to track Darcourt down before he can complete his massacre.

The satire is biting about a dead 'z' list celeb, 'Anika's past indiscretions have been effectively expunged from public record, and the two-faced, back-stabbing ruthlessness with which she secured her berth in Vogue 2.2 transmuted into 'drive', 'ambition, 'spark' and even 'a go-getting lust for sucess that we would do well to instil in this lacklustre generation of unmotivated youth'. But it's not just that her past can no longer be used to taint her: nor can her future. She's an ideal, an icon for people to project on to without fear of the reality spoiling the effect. Everybody loves her now, because there's nothing she can do to get on anybody's tits. She can't run off at the mouth and say something that will alienate anybody who disagrees with it. She can't betray her semi-literate ignorance of the written word as it exists beyond "Now" magazine. She can't let slip some racial or homophobic epithet that would bring down instant condemnation or call into question the values and attitudes she was raised with.'

The plot is full of twists, turns and misdirection,which all work. But most importantly of all is Brookmyre's dark, and drier than the best Scottish whisky, humour which combine to create a satisfying, entertaining read. ( )