Geoffrey Scrutinous is a Sensitive, who can make anyone agree with him, without them realising it. He doesn't like to fight, because he is rubbish at it, but sometimes he regrets not taking a combat magic.
Geoffrey attends the council meeting at the Great Chamber to elect the new Council of Elders, where he nominates Corrival Deuce for Grand Mage. His main job is to convince "mortals" that there is no such thing as magic.
After the Remnants escape, one of them possess a fat man. Scrutinous tries to defend someone who is being attacked by the fat man. He claimed to be user of the "Tiger Paw" technique, which is most likely based off of some martial art or another. He fails, and is just about to die when Skulduggery saves him. They, along with Philomena Random, go to the Great Chamber, where the two are possessed by Remnants during a fight against the Four Elementals, forcing Skulduggery to escape. Geoffrey survives and is present at the second meeting to elect the new council.
This story starts with Geoffrey Scruntinous talking to a cop, telling him that he will handle everything that has happened. The cop agrees and walks away, leaving Geoffrey at the murder scene. Skulduggery and Valkyrie inspect the scene. Skulduggery admits that he has no idea what happened. Geoffrey says that neighbours heard an old fashoined train whistle when the person died. He had come to the conclusion that the person was hit by a train. But Skulduggery says there is no railway tracks or anything of the sort.
Geoffrey searches around the room and picks up an old pen, he looks down on the piece of paper which reads "I'm going to be hit by a train". Geoffrey informs Skulduggery of the piece of paper. They are sure it is the person's handwriting. They come to the conclusion the person didn't know he was writing. Skulduggery looks at Geoffrey and asks why he is writing. Geoffrey is confused and looks down at his hand and find he is writing. He drops the pen. Skulduggery read out loud "I'm going to be eaten by a shark". Geoffrey becomes worried, and Valkyrie says that the pen is cursed. Skulduggery says Geoffrey has twelve hours before a shark eats him somehow.
The trio sit in a diner, discussing where the murdered person worked. Skulduggery makes some calls and finds four people were killed in the last two weeks. He comes to the conclusion that the pen was handed down from person to person and each of them were killed in turn. The curse started with a sorcerer named Elwood Satchel. The three get into the Bentley and drove to a person who knew Satchel well. He wasn't home so they waited in the car.
He returns the next morning, and tells them how Satchel died. He said Satchel was electrocuted while running. A few days later they found a note, left by Satchel. Skulduggery asked if Satchel had any enemies. The man mentions another sorcerer named Davit Maybury, who Satchel had stolen his girlfriend from.
The trio go to Maybury's house, but no-one answered the door. Geoffrey has only 15 minutes until he is going to be eaten, and is getting worried. Skulduggery finds a door in Maybury's bedroom. Geoffrey notices the carpet is wet and soggy. Skulduggery calls out to Maybury through the door, but nothing happens. Geoffrey asks where the water is coming from, but Valkyrie says there is no water. Geoffrey sees a fish but he is the only one to see it. Skulduggery looks for a way to open the door, without noticing it, he does. They go down a room only to find Maybury 's corpse sitting in the armchair. Geoffrey panics, but Skulduggery tries to calm him by telling a useless story.
Skulduggery looks at the cursed pen and cracks the outer shell. He sees four symbols cut on the inside. Skulduggery notices one symbol is incorrect, which made the curse pass from person to person instead of one person. Geoffrey's teeth start chattering due to the cold water around him. Skulduggery rings China Sorrows to see if she can correct the symbol. Geoffrey notices the shark's dorsal fin poking out of the water. Valkyrie jumps in front of him protectively, but knows that won't do anything. Skulduggery starts talking to China about the symbol. Geoffrey starts shouting, saying the shark is coming. Skulduggery tells Geoffrey to stop shouting. Valkyrie tells him to scare it away by splashing, but China says not to splash about. Skulduggery continues talking and takes up a scalpel and tries to correct the mistake.
The shark comes for Geoffrey, Valkyrie grabs his arm and pulls him away at the last second. But she drops him again, under water. He looks for the shark and sees it coming for him. But at that time, the water disappears and so does the shark. Geoffrey thanks Valkyrie for saving him. Skulduggery wonders why he doesn't get a thank you as well, seeing as he was the one who corrected the symbol. Geoffrey merely said it was because Skulduggery told him to shut up, and walked away.
Scrutinous makes an appearance in Death Bringer. Finbar Wrong sends Journalist Kenny Dunne to an informant, simply known as "Geoffrey", who would supposedly give Kenny information about sorcery. Unbeknownst to Kenny however, Geoffrey used his powers to put Kenny off the scent of the case, to try and make him forget it ever happened. However afterwards Kenny realizes he has been tricked and his enthusiasm for the case is restored.
He is mentioned several times throughout the book, and is very busy telling the mortals that they didn't see anything out of the ordinary when the mortals start developing magic of their own. He is sent all over the country, making sure that the existence of magic is not revealed to the public.
He appears later in the book with the other sensitives, trying to fool Darquesse that she had succeeded in killing off everything on the planet.
Personality[]
Geoffrey has a very eccentric appearance, appearing in slippers even at formal occasions along with several beads, bracelets and necklaces. He is a stranger to violence and is shown to be very physically unfit.
Powers[]
Geoffrey can convince minds of virtually anything by talking to them and suggesting with his hypnotism that they forget all about something. However this may be reversed if the person kept a reminder of the incident e.g. documents.
Creation[]
Derek Landy made a competition in which fans could create a character. The winning character would feature in Mortal Coil. Charlie Smith won with Geoffrey Scrutinous.
Trivia[]
His fate after the Night of Knives is unknown however, as his power is not to see the future it is possible he survived.