I don't know why I didn't read this when it came out since I had read the three preceding books by Mr. Carter but I was happy to find it now as a "new" book. As expected the book is well constructed and the factual situation is interesting and complicated. I enjoyed the flow of the story and the gradual way information found its way to us. Like le Carre´ or similar writers it is very hard to know everyone's motivations and veracity, making the entire situation fraught and thrilling. A solid, good, enjoyable book. ( )

I enjoyed this book - well written, lots of subplots and a few surprises. A good read! ( )

Don’t you hate it when good writers do dumb things and their editors let them? I don’t mean the whole book which was a departure for Carter at the time. No. I mean the prologue. On the whole prologues are pointless, a sign of poor story-telling ability and chock full of cheap, reader manipulation. This one was especially unneccessary since the novel’s opening chapter takes place in the exact same time, the exact same location and with the same person. In other words, it picks up precisely where the prologue left off. Why?? OMG.

But I let it go. It’s been a while since I read one of Carter’s novels and so some of the names I should have recognized went by me (like Tish), but some I recognized and I appreciate the vast, tangentially interconnected world he’s built. I’m still waiting for a book about Mona from Palace Council though.

Anyway, Carter says in an author’s note that he just wanted to write a page-turner and he has, but gone are subtleties of character, plot and pacing. It goes from scene to scene, much like the movie version of this would and toward the end Beck says that she’s lost the plot and by then I had, too. There are a dizzying array of characters and connections, something I’m normally very good and comfortable with, but this was a bit too much. Everyone is suspect, everyone could be in on the plot to take down Jericho before he can do damage. Or is there a plot? Has Jericho’s mental instability finally resulted in a full-blown paranoid delusion? Beck doesn’t know, but sticks with him despite many warnings to leave. She gets to be a bit Mary-Sue-ish in the end and I never got to understand why she captured so much of Jericho’s mind, attention and affection. You just have to accept that it is true.

And, as usual, I couldn’t help but pick out some ordinance blunders. Beck decides to practice with a pistol she found in the house. Years ago she received instruction on a similar Glock, but since she can’t shoot in the house, she practices grip and stance. What? She’s never heard of dry firing? Ugh. Then later she suffers a sore hand from the recoil. A Glock 19 doesn’t kick much no matter the load and even less when you have decent grip technique. Finally, a sniper was using a tripod in the woods to take down multiple moving targets. Not bloody likely. Too static, too bulky, too difficult to maneuver quickly. He’d use a bipod like everyone else. ( )

I read this on my beach vacation, and it was perfect for that. Kind of formulaic, but still managed to keep my interest and keep me guessing most of the book. ( )

Beck's former lover, a former high power CIA administrator, is on his deathbed, so she travels cross country to say good-bye. But of course, all is not as it seems, and there are intrigues within secrets within longstanding feuds. The reader knows there are surprises in store, if not the particulars, and the suspense mounts right up until the end. ( )