June 1, 2003
Pulp Fiction meets " And Then There Were None "in this blend of thriller and black comedy. Brookmyre has a gift for keeping the reader continually off balance, sure only that some kind of horrific joke is about to be played, like the severed arm that falls out of the sky on the first day of grouse hunting in the Highlands, clonking a just-retired detective on the head. Two plot threads move toward each other: one involves a loose assemblage of mercenary terrorists, the other a 15-year class reunion organized by a classmate whom no one remembers. The threads knit together, sort of like a noose, when both groups board a North Shore oil rig outfitted for the tourist trade. With a dizzying display of mayhem and violence, the action then shuttles between the mercenaries' plot and the various amorous designs, one-upmanship games, and betrayals enacted by the reunion celebrants. Not for the faint of heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)