Iris Johansen grabbed me from the first page with her newest thriller. The plot was intriguing and kept me turning the pages in eager anticipation of the next scene. I've read all of her contemporary romantic suspense novels and found this one to be more entertaining than the others, despite the lack of a true love story. I had empathy for her heroine and feel that Ms. Johansen did a good job of portraying the damage poor parenting, poor environment, and devestating personal trauma can do to a person. To have allowed her heroine to become fully normal in her relationships during the course of this story would have been very unrealistic. As for the story line, stranger things have happened in many governments--why couldn't it happen in ours? I am anxious to read the sequel.