History Literature / TheDamnationGame

* BodyHorror: Let's just say that, if you read this book, you'll want to gird yourself if you're a dog lover...

* DisposableSexWorker: Charmaine, Marty's ex-wife. Once she reveals she turned to prostitution after Marty's incarceration, her and her pimp are soon killed off by the two young missionaries who mistook her lover as Marty.

* UndeathAlwaysEnds: This applies to those resurrected by Mamoulian, most notably Breer. Mamoulian can apparently slow it down, but decay eventually catches up to them. In Breer's case, it leaves him a heavily makeup-ed, unpleasantly smelling walking corpse.

* AbusiveParents: When she has a vision of her dead mother reaching out to hug her, Carys reflects that her mother never touched her in real life. Worse is Whitehouse, who ''deliberately'' got his daughter addicted to heroin and keeps her in the habit just so she won't abandon him. Then there's the [[ParentalIncest incest...]]
* ArchEnemy: Even though Whitehouse isn't exactly a heroic figure, to say the least, a lot of this trope applies to Whitehouse and Mamoulian: both have a complex relationship with mutual admiration and even friendship but also hate, it's personal for both of them, and they have similar origins as nobodies who through luck found someone to tutor them into achieving remarkable things. There's a foil too: Mamoulian is an ascetic who tried to accomplish great things through his powers, while Whitehouse is a hedonist who used those powers just for personal gain.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Marty and Carys survive and Mamoulian and Breer are destroyed for good, but it's left ambiguous whether or not Carys and Marty genuinely love each other, if they'll be able to escape blame for the murders that have occurred, and if because of that Carys will ever be able to come forward to claim her rightful inheritance; Mamoulian had succeeded in his mission to kill Whitehouse; and thanks to Mamoulian two young missionaries turned into murderous sociopaths are still at large in London.]]

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Much of the story is told from Marty's and other characters' perspectives so we don't really see Whitehouse in the boardroom, but it is implied he hasn't been particularly moral about his business dealings. [[spoiler: But we do see Whitehouse try to force Marty into a high-class orgy as a "joke."]]
* DealWithTheDevil: Marty thinks that Mamoulian might be the Devil and Whitehouse does credit Mamoulian to some extent with his business successes, but [[spoiler: Mamoulian doesn't want Whitehouse's soul, as such. He genuinely only wanted an apprentice and a friend. After Whitehouse's betrayal, Mamoulian now only wants Whitehouse to die with him.]]
* DecadentCourt: Whitehouse presides over a modern corporate executive version.

* PsychicPowers: Carys, Mamoulian, and Whitehouse, although Whitehouse only used them to amass a fortune and apparently can't use them to the extent his daughter and Mamoulian can. [[spoiler: It's implied that Mamoulian can only pass his "gifts" on to someone who innately has these, which is at least part of why he became interested in Whitehouse in the first place.]]

* YouCantFightFate: Fate and chance are major themes of the book. Marty and Whitehouse are compulsive gamblers, while Mamoulian barely cheated death before gaining immortality. [[spoiler: Mamoulian ultimately dies (sort of) the way he was "supposed" to have died, and despite going to extreme lengths Whitehouse fails to escape from Mamoulian.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Marty and Carys survive and Mamoulian and Breer are destroyed for good, but it's left ambiguous whether or not Carys and Marty genuinely love each other, if they'll be able to escape blame for the murders that have occurred, and if because of that Carys will ever be able to come forward claim her rightful inheritance; Mamoulian had succeeded in his mission to kill Whitehouse; and thanks to Mamoulian two young missionaries turned into murderous sociopaths are still at large in London.]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mamoulian has a bad case of this, [[ImmortalsFearDeath particularly lamenting that immortality has only made his terror of death worse]], as does Breer.

* ArchEnemy: Even though Whitehouse isn't exactly a heroic figure, a lot of this trope applies to Whitehouse and Mamoulian: both have a complex relationship with mutual admiration and even friendship but also hate, it's personal for both of them, and they have similar origins as nobodies who through luck found someone to tutor them into achieving remarkable things. There's a foil too: Mamoulian is an ascetic who tried to accomplish great things through his powers, while Whitehouse is a hedonist who used those powers just for personal gain.

* ArchEnemy: Even though Whitehouse isn't exactly a heroic figure, a lot of this trope applies to Whitehouse and Mamoulian: both have a complex relationship with mutual admiration and even friendship but also hate, it's personal for both of them, and they have similar origins as nobodies who through luck found someone to tutor into achieving remarkable things. There's a foil too: Mamoulian is an ascetic who tried to accomplish great things through his powers, while Whitehouse is a hedonist who used those powers just for personal gain.

-Clive Barker

* Arch-Enemy: Even though Whitehouse isn't exactly a heroic figure, a lot of this trope applies to Whitehouse and Mamoulian: both have a complex relationship with mutual admiration and even friendship but also hate, it's personal for both of them, and they have similar origins as nobodies who through luck found someone to tutor into achieving remarkable things. There's a foil too: Mamoulian is an ascetic who tried to accomplish great things through his powers, while Whitehouse is a hedonist who used those powers just for personal gain.

* PsychicPowers: Carys, Mamoulian, and Whitehouse, although Whitehouse only used them to amass a fortune. [[spoiler: It's implied that Mamoulian can only pass his "gifts" on to someone who innately has these, which is at least part of why he became interested in Whitehouse in the first place.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Marty and Carys survive and Mamoulian and Breer are destroyed for good, but it's left ambiguous whether or not Carys and Marty genuinely love each other, if they'll be able to escape blame for the murders that have murdered, and if because of that Carys will ever be able to claim her inheritance; Mamoulian had succeeded in his mission to kill Whitehouse; and thanks to Mamoulian two young missionaries turned into murderous sociopaths are at large in London.]]

* UndeathAlwaysEnds: This applies to those resurrected by Mamoulian, most notably Breer. Mamoulian can apparently slow it down, but decay eventually eventually catches up to them. In Breer's case, it leaves him a heavily makeup-ed, unpleasantly smelling walking corpse.

* NighInvulnerable: It isn't clear if Mamoulian is a [[CompleteImmortal Complete Immortal]] and is dying just because he's lost the will to keep going, but [[spoiler: Marty does find out the hard way that Mamoulian can survive even having his body literally hacked to bits.]]

* NighInvulnerable: It isn't clear if Mamoulian is a [[CompleteImmortal]] and is dying just because he's lost the will to keep going, but [[spoiler: Marty does find out the hard way that Mamoulian can survive even having his body literally hacked to bits.]]

* NighInvulnerable: It isn't clear if Mamoulian is a [[Complete Immortal]] and is dying just because he's lost the will to keep going, but [[spoiler: Marty does find out the hard way that Mamoulian can survive even having his body literally hacked to bits.]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mamoulian has a bad case of this, [[ImmortalsFearDeath particularly lamenting that immortality has only made his terror of death ''worse'']], as does Breer.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mamoulian has a bad case of this, [[ImmortalsFearDeath particularly lamenting that immortality has only made his terror of death ''worse'', as does Breer.]]

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mamoulian has a bad case of this, particularly lamenting that immortality has only made his terror of death ''worse'', as does Breer.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Mamoulian has a bad case of this, as does Breer.