ISBN 0-00-224656-2 (UK hbk)

"From the author who created the brilliant, funny and disturbing Only Forward comes another dark and wickedly vibrant adventure into strange territories.

"Luck? Don't talk to Jack Randall about luck. He didn't keep up the payment on his, and it ran out a long time ago. The good fortune box is empty. A loner veterin of a savage war, he's spent the last five years buried deep, hiding out on a Spares farm with people who can't even spell luck.

"Forced to flee this last bolthole, Jack returns to the city that used to be his home. All he wants is to score a little money and disappear with the people he's trying to save. Unfortunately, he's got a talent for attracting trouble -- the kind most people would run screaming from. Jack Randall isn't most people. That's part of his problem. His escape from the Farm with six of its inmates (well, five and a half) brings him head to head with the man who destroyed everything he once held dear.

"He has to make a decision: take revenge or turn away?

"In a startling odyssey of fear, black comedy and the surreal, Jack Randall discovers that the choice has already been made. The demons in him take on the demons without, and all he can do is to stand back and see who wins..." [jacket blurb, UK hbk, 1996]

Michael Marshall Smith Page
(for more info)