Apart from extreme violence, Marter's other trademark is a scene where the villains treat a woman roughly, while her male friend looks on in helpless fury, inwardly determined to have revenge. He does it in Earthshock and he does it again in this book. By all accounts Marter was an interesting bloke though I would have been reluctant to go drinking with him, in case he suddenly accused me of looking at his wife funny.
Marter aims to make the Dominators more kick-arse by making them over 8ft high, and his Quarks (ludicrously) are over 6ft. I think he's missing the point, the Dominators' menace comes from their ruthlessness and their lack of necks, they don't need to be 8ft high.
Zoe's response to Kando's stilted recitation of facts is explicitly ironic in the book, whereas on screen you could interpret it either way (though I suspect it is indeed supposed to be an ironic comment on Dulcian 'university' level teaching).
Jamie (as in the Invasion target by Marter) has his speeches tiresomely written in dialect ('divil' etc) throughout. Terrance is much subtler in this regard, just dropping in the occasional 'doesnae'.
When the first Quark gets shot - an important turning point in the story - it satisfyingly explodes 'in a shower of molten components and clouds of treacly smoke'.
Winner of The Pip & Jane Baker 'Oddest sentence' Award: 'Perplexed and miserable, Zoe gazed listlessly at his grimy, bulbous features.'
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