From humble beginnings in the South-African diamond business to the dysfunctional Blackwell dynasty ruling over a vast business empire. ‘An empire of naked ambition, (…) a life of blackmail and deceit and murder,’ as the blurb says. That should suffice. Somewhat more interesting are the twins, Eve and Alexandra. Eve is the evil one, Alexandra is all right, in fact saintly. You can’t tell them apart, they are identical twins, like Mary and Mathilda Barton in Emma Tennant’s Queen of Stones, Benjamin and Lewis in Chatwin’s On the Black Hill, Lilyanne’s sex-crazed twins in Doctor Love, or the Mittler twins in Banville’s The Newton Letter. Needless to say, they both look awesome and interchangeable, which Eve exploits a few times in the plot. Eve is cardboard-evil: headstrong, calculating, devious, cruel. Alexandra means well and is so incapable of imagining evil intent that she is unable to read her sister. Eve likes to fuck around and gets thrown out of college. She seduces a handsome rich sadist, George, ttrying to turn him into a pawn that will carry out the evil deeds that would give her control of the family fortunes. The way she manages George is spelled out in this dialogue: ‘“Fuck me, George,” Eve said. – “Turn over.” – “No. My way.” – “I don’t enjoy that.” – “I know. You’d like me to be a tight-assed little boy, wouldn’t you, darling? I’m not. I’m a woman. Get on top of me.” – He mounted her and put his tumescent penis inside her. “I can’t be satisfied that way, Eve.” – She laughed. “I don’t care, sweetheart. I can.” (…) She had orgasm after orgasm and watched his frustration grow. He wanted to hurt her, to make her scream with pain, but he dared not. – “Again,” Eve commanded.’ George will soon hurt her, badly, and while this time she recovers, she will right at the end have to pay the ultimate price, just as in any proper fairy tale. Which is not death, but worse: being utterly disfigured in a conscious act of revenge surgery.