I was hopeful when I bought this book, but very disapointed when I finished reading it. The main problems with this book is that there are a) too many characters, b)they get called by different names throughout the book, if I remember correctly the main sleuth has 4 different ones, c) everybody in the book has something drastic happening in their lives so you hardly can remember individual disasters, I mean how likely is it that among c.a. forty characters no one is neither insane, being abused sexually or physically, mentally retarded, autistic, a con artist, steriod abuser or... you get my meaning. The energy the author puts into making up all these bizarre characters is at the cost of the story line which basically isn't there at all. Never, ever, will I buy another book by this author.