Baron Vengeous wasted after his arrival in Ireland do not have time to implement his grim plans into action. He wants Pleasants companion Walküre get in his hands and therefore incited the vampire Dusk and the hitman Billy-Ray Sanguine on them. With the help of China Sorrows and Tanith Low, however, they can escape. To find out where the baron hid the Groteskerium, skulduggery and Valkyrie are looking for a man called to the torment, who was also behind the Baron ago. According to its name, he will torment Pleasant and offers him a deal: He gets the information, if he shoots Walküre. Now skulduggery has to decide whether can wipe out the life of a girl in order to save billions of people.
Valkyrie and skulduggery manages to deceive the agony and so they find out in what has ruined the Baron hidden the Groteskerium. Although they reach the building from Baron, but may be hiding not discover it. So they have to watch as Vengeous exposes with his henchmen the Groteskerium. To stop him, raises him skulduggery in a duel.
Derek Landy is Playing With Fire / The Groteskerium returns a successful continuation of the first volume of his skulduggery Pleasant succeeded. The verbal punch exchanges in this volume surpass the predecessor of the band even once. It's always nice to see when a new author is not only a good book succeeds, but it can maintain its high initial level, not only, but even be increased. At the end the reader expects even a small taste of what might await him in the next band and a clear indication that the world is still in grave danger.