| Jean-Michel |
Basquiat | American artist. |
| Ludwig van |
Beethoven | German composer and pianist. |
| Betty |
Boop | Fictional cartoon character. |
| Noam |
Chomsky | American professor and public intellectual. |
| E. M. |
Cioran | Romanian-born philosopher and essayist. |
| Bill |
Clinton | 42nd President of the United States. |
| Gerald |
Dannecker | Matthew's father. |
| Albrecht |
Dürer | German painter. |
| Robert |
Frank | Swiss-American photographer and filmmaker. |
| Lady |
Gaga | American singer and performer. |
| Beth |
Gibbons | English singer and songwriter. |
| Walter |
Gieseking | French-German pianist and composer. |
| Nan |
Goldin | American photographer. |
| Wade D. |
Grollier | Filmmaker. |
| Jimi |
Hendrix | American guitarist and singer-songwriter. |
| Kim |
Kardashian | American media personality and socialite. |
| Lindsay |
Lohan | American actress and singer-songwriter. |
| Officer |
Lombardi | Detective Fernandez's colleague. |
| Dr. |
McCubbin | Australian therapist. |
| Ornella |
Muti | Italian actress. |
| Helmut |
Newton | German-Australian photographer. |
| Blaise |
Pascal | French mathematician and physicist. |
| Hercule |
Poirot | Fictional detective character. |
| Arthur |
Schopenhauer | German philosopher. |
| Shanti |
Sena | Peacekeeper. |
| Eliot |
Spitzer | Attorney and former Governor of New York. |
| Morgan |
Stanley | Global financial services firm. |
| Rachel |
Turpin | Actress, Wade Grollier's long-term girlfriend. |
| Henrietta |
Vine | Charlie's acquaintance. |
| Alison |
| Matthew's acquaintance. |
| Ashkenazi |
| Jewish ethnoreligious group. |
| Bill |
| Jana's husband. |
| Caitlin |
| Philippe's wife. |
| Charlie |
| Wealthy investment banker, Matthew's cousin. |
| Chloe |
| Beautiful, enigmatic wife of Charlie. |
| Don |
| Rudy's new business partner. |
| Fernandez |
| Detective. |
| Fu |
| Enormous black chow dog. |
| George |
| Owner of a vintage clothing shop. |
| Graham |
| Charlie's father. |
| Hugh |
| Writer. |
| Jana |
| Chloe's cousin. |
| Joan |
| Rudy's wife. |
| Lily |
| Daughter of Chloe and Charlie. |
| Lloyd's |
| Famous insurance market. |
| Lupa |
| Dog belonging to Chloe and Charlie. |
| Matthew |
| Struggling protagonist, an unemployed British chef. Aka: Matt. |
| Natalie |
| Lily's new acquaintance. |
| Nikki |
| Charlie's first wife. |
| Philippe |
| Natalie's father. |
| Pike |
| Older historian. |
| Rudy |
| Matthew's acquaintance. |
| Shelley |
| Cleaner. |
| Torssen |
| Pike's acquaintance. |
| Zeiss |
| German technology and optics company. |
