The book explores the inflow of bad characters from Uganda and India, the Great Brinks Mat gold heist, the Russian oligarchs' investments throughout the city, the Mermaid theater, corrupt music business in Hollywood, and the systematic corruption of the banking system. In the process he exposes several con men and evil gangsters, including Indian Dave who was present when Zac meets his demise.
Keefe also digs into the family background of the Brettlers. Zac was raised in a good household; however, he went astray while attending an elite private school. He was a born con artist that was determined to make a quick fortune. He developed a persona of an abandoned son of Russian oligarchs to get in with unsavory characters. As a side, his grandfather, a respected rabbi and Holocaust survivor, lead a double life. He fathered a child out of wedlock and lied that he graduated from Cambridge.
The book is filled with lies, deception, violence, suicide, and murder. The police/Met/Scotland yard are displayed with incompetence and possible collusion. The book never proves that Zac was murdered or committed suicide, however Volinder was "heating up the knives" when he jumped to his death.
