"If I accept your argument then the self-evident truth of any legitimate thing could be taken as grounds for its falseness.”

That single quote sums up the devious nature of this book's characters rather well indeed. I was quite taken in by the primary plot action in the third chapter, for instance, where I should really have been on my guard for such trickery!

Locke is quite interesting a lead character and his retinue are colourful and well-written, and the worldbuilding is paced well and enjoyable.

"It's impossible to be intimidating when one angry woman has your cock between her teeth and another is holding a stiletto to your kidneys."

I very much liked the narrative structure of the book too, although when the action of the story was in full flow I found the harkening back to interludes of things gone before a little tiresome as I wanted more action. Still, they told the history very well and doubtless added to the suspense.

As for the story? I like confidence games. Properly planned and well executed they are things of beauty, morality aside. The fights were intense and brutal, the danger well worth worrying about and the good and the bad, the peasantry and the Mafia, the nobility and the artistes were all rendered well and a true pleasure to read about. Particular scenes of particular enjoyment for me were the final part of the seventh chapter, Jean's run-in with the Berangias Sisters and the episode at the counting house.

“Well, I for one have no expressions of sympathy to spare, since he kicked my balls hard enough to make them permanent residents of my lungs.”

But it's not a five star read. It's not even a four. I "Liked it", but the one off-putting thing was the sheer and persistent nature of the profanity. The book is set, says the jacket, in a city which originally belonged to an "alien race". My question is did the Humans taking over all originate from some sort of arc of potty-mouthed school children? It's fuck this, shit that, and cocksucking something else and I can say that it was the most irritatingly distracting thing about a book I have had the misbegotten pleasure to encounter since an audio book I once heard read by a volunteer with loose, rattling teeth.