A Snowball in Hell

A Snowball in Hell is a comedic novel by Christopher Brookmyre. The bad guy comes back - again - and the Fair Cop fights him - again - and it's all very Christopher Brookmyre - again.

From Amazon: "If society has the B-list celebrities it deserves, it now has a killer to match. Except that Simon Darcourt is a great deal more successful in his career choice than the average talent show contestant. He's also got the media taped - by the simple expedient of by-passing them completely and posting real-time coverage of his killings on the internet. He's got viewing figures to make the world's TV executives gasp in envy, and he's pulling the voyeuristic strings of every viewer by getting them to 'vote' to keep his captives alive."

Tropes used in A Snowball in Hell include:

• Asshole Victim: The Dark Spirit's excuse.
• Babies Ever After: Angelique and Zal. Justified since you could see it coming if you were paying attention.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Dark Spirit gets in on this
• Fair Cop: Angelique.
• Faking the Dead: The Dark Spirit
• Let's You and Him Fight
• Luke, You Are My Father: A major plot point.
• My Biological Clock Is Ticking: Angelique. As represented by the big clock in Central Station.
• Not My Driver: Simon pulls this on a number of people.
• One of Us: Raymond's kids. Martin is a hardcore Captain Scarlet fan.
• Reality TV:
• Unexplained Recovery: Guess who?
• Unfazed Everyman: Cameo by Raymond Ash.
• Villain Protagonist: Partly.
• Will They or Won't They?: Angeligue and Zal.