I loved "A Simple Plan," and I really liked about the first 50-75 pages of this book . . . but it fell apart.I don't want to give away the plot, so I won't go into specifics.But the first part did a spectacular job of ratcheting up the tension . . . so much so that I found myself really eager to get back to the book to FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS.And I kept reading, and I began to become bored -- despite the truly godawful plight of these people -- and ready for it to be over. By at least a hundred pages before the book ended it was inexcapably obvious what was going to happen to them, so all you had to do was plod along to get through the gory (reall, really gory) details.And since I don't want to give away the plot I can't go into specifics about the adversary who does all this to them. I agree with the review I read in the NY Times, though -- it becomes so over-the-top the whole affair starts to be ludicrous.Very, very, very disappointing.