This addition to the series featuring the alien with no past, Ishmael Jones has seemed a bit sketchy so far, but now Green has concluded his Nightside and Eddie Drood gloriously irreverent mashups of hardboiled private eyes with Standards, fantasies, myths and every legend , hero or villain you ever heard of finally more or less dead or defeated, he seems to be paying more attention to developing the characters and stories of the protagonists of the tales of Ishmael Jones. Is the Black Hole an alien artefact , an ancient eater of humans, an archaeological mystery or just a cover up of a common or garden murder? Well we do get a glimpse of what or who Ishmael really is and he almost remembers, but doesn't seem to want to anyway. A more complex plot and character development can be seen in this addition to the series, suggesting that Green is now applying his not inconsiderable talents for writing wittily amusing tales of fantasy taking the mickey out of the conventions of crime and fantasy novels in his own unique style once again with the depth this series needs. Not quite up to his earlier Nightside or Secret Histories standards yet but promising. A quick but entertaining read.