“Only mad or dangerous people believe in anything these days; vegans, football fans, suicide bombers…”

Bernard Hawks, a dissolute and disillusioned journalist, is employed by The Indicator primarily because of his ability to annoy. In his column he fantasises about where he’d like to plant a bomb, but when does explode in an advertising agency, just where he’d suggested, he becomes both a traitor and a hero. He finds a fan in Animal, a crazily attractive young female terrorist, but Dillwyn, his conspiracy obsessed neighbour, reckons it’s all part of a government plot. The police are convinced Bernard will lead them to the perpetrators while a mysterious blackmailer claims he has evidence that Bernard did indeed plant the bomb.

Bernard tries, largely unsuccessfully, to keep out of trouble as he pursues Animal. On his way he meets Professor Kepler, promulgator of the Theory of Post-Credibility, and the enigmatic JJ, 'the man who turned baseball caps round'. His paths also cross those of Danny, who has been reunited with his old partner Troy, founder of the legendary but seldom seen 70's experimental theatre group, The Human Company, who are about to create their final work, a show to ignite the entire city.  And behind everything lurks the increasingly sinister New Age conglomerate, the Tranquility Foundation.

Bernard’s quest is constantly impeded by paranoia, his bad back, a weakness for recreational drugs, irrepressible scepticism, and the constant fear of puppets.