Can M. R. Forbes keep up the focus and pace of the first book in the 'Forgotten' series? Well, to a certain extent. There's still a lot to enjoy - the sense of pace and sense of danger are still cracking, and I felt both sorry for, and impressed by, the unstoppable, yet slowly disintegrating protagonist. The motivations of the two leads start to feel too cardboard in this one though, and there's a sideplot involving paternity that feels utterly spurious - shoe-horned in just to give the (badly underdeveloped) female love interest something to do other than be a victim (now she's a *pregnant* victim! OMG, who's the father??). Also, knowing subsidiary characters almost certainly will die is starting to feel predictable - it's like the author doesn't want them around long enough to complicate plotting. Not a great book, but enough of interest to make me want to read the 3rd in the series. Which ultimately is probably what counts. ( )