I didn't know the thing about the title. Nifty. And yes, it mentions The Count of Monte Cristo at least three times on the front and back covers in the version I have, mostly in quotes from positive book reviews. Sorry if I spoiled anything, but I was under the impression that it was made clear from the beginning. :( The book also has an addendum by Stephen at the end talking about his process in writing the book. It's really funny. :) He said he had this great idea, and started writing it out, and worked on it for a while, only to sit up in horror (I believe in the middle of the night) when he realized why his plot seemed so familiar. He decided to go with it anyway, and changed all the names so that they were anagrams of the original characters and so on.