A thriller, written by Iain Banks in 1993. In the book, all the murder victims apparently deserve, if not their cruel fates, at least a reckoning, leaving the hero (and the reader) with a guilty sense of admiration and appreciation for the clever serial killer. An Edinburgh journalist, who smokes too much, drinks too much, plays seriously with hard drugs, and is addicted to computer games, takes on the quest for the murderer.