more on same book

I'm about halfway through Darkmans by Nicola Barker now. At this point I think it would be interesting to talk about the stylistic factors like methods of foreshadowing. A lot of plot twists are revealed either just to one character, or between a few but kept from the reader, which keeps you curious about how it will turn out in the end, and what the characters know that you don't. There isn't really anything the reader knows that the characters don't, except for the fact that the reader knows things about characters that the others might not.
One of the characters who seems most mysterious is Fleet. He behaves so strangely it makes you wonder if its just how he is, or if he is going to end up playing a bigger role in the overall story.
The summary on the back of the book says the main character is the past itself, and I'm wondering if this is supposed to be true, whether or not it is successfully portrayed. It is certainly alluded to on many occasions, but the present seems just as relevant. I love the comparison of medieval times to the current times, how everything then was symbolistic, just like many things in the consumerism realm of modern day society. While certain objects in paintings represented different religious things back then, now wearing certain clothes makes specific statements. Also, colors then stood for specific things, and they still do for us, even if they are less specific. Red means passion, which could be anger or love, and green jealousy, etc. Reading insightful things like this remind me what clever people authors really are. Everything that the characters in a book know, the author had to know as well. Its interesting to think about, and how the characters intelligence reflects that of the author. Using that theory, I would say Nicola Barker is rather intelligent.