Review by Ian Keogh

When we left Largo Winch, billionaire owner of the W Group, he was trapped aboard a malfunctioning space shuttle in the company of Jarod Munskind, tech billionaire. The Edge of Night also featured a surprise resignation, a couple of betrayals, what seemed to be a case closed that actually wasn’t, and an effective assassin operating on an ambitious scale, yet seemingly unconnected to any of the major players.

In a change to the previous volumes completing a two part story, the summary is a few paragraphs of text on the indicia page rather than illustrated pages. It’s appropriate as small print plays a major, and not greatly convincing part in the early pages explaining one of the mysteries left hanging from last time. Largo Winch is probably the world’s richest man, and that being the case he employs enough lawyers to invade Afghanistan, which is why it isn’t credible that they’d not have highlighted a very peculiar contract clause on which the plot hangs.

How much that little item of logic eventually matters, though, will depend on how thrilling any reader finds the remainder. Philippe Francq certainly pulls out all the stops thrilling with action and amazing with scenery, while the people alternate between businessmen and folk who’ve stepped out of a modelling brochure. Largo himself covers both bases, all immaculately drawn, and stars in the centrepiece action solo, audaciously set up in the previous book. .

Early answers are supplied to most questions held over from The Edge of Night, because a major one raises further queries. It’s clever on Giacometti’s part, but ultimately self-defeating as a limited cast means smarter readers are going to figure out who’s behind most of the problems. Still, arriving at the unmasking is considerable fun, there’s a touching finale, and that art is astonishingly good.