This is not a badly written book, but I'm not sure I've read anything that was more unfriendly to new readers. There's nothing to indicate to a new reader that it's the seventh book of a series, nor (more importantly) the third book of a trilogy within the series, so an unwary reader quickly find him- or herself confronted with characters making reference to past events that are never explained or expanded upon. As a thriller, it seems competent enough, but I found myself too mired in continuity to ever really get into it.