George Harvey Bone
George is the main character of the novel and is portrayed in the novel as an drunkard who wastes away his days with drink. He is also depicted as being mentally unsound and having some sort of dissociative identity disorder which causes him to have episodes in which he believes that he must murder his Netta, one of his drinking mates whom he has an unhealthy obsession with. He commits suicide at the end of the novel after killing Netta during one of his episodes.
Netta
Netta is an aspiring actress who has yet to make any progress and drinks with George, partly because she wants to use him to get to Johnnie, an old friend of George's who is a theatre agent and has the ability to catapult her to fame and fortune if he so chooses. She is later killed by George during one of his episodes.
Peter
Peter is an acquaintance of Netta and George who uses George's obsessiveness with Netta against him in order to sustain his own drinking habit. He accompanies them on a trip to Brighton when George is not having one of his episodes.
Eddie Carstairs
Eddie is a theatre magnate who dismisses Netta when he meets her through Johnnie.
