I had been anticipating the arrival of this book for ages, having finished the last one a while back and so I was rather disappointed when I read some of the reviews, many of which seem quite negative.
Personally, I found this book as good as any of the others, possibly rather better as the plot was more complex and required a continual presence of mind while reading it (some books you can forget which page you're on and hope for the best when you return to it, it makes so little difference if you miss a few pages, not this one. Make sure you KNOW where you were when you closed up the kindle!)
It certainly does take a lot of twists and turns but I like the fact that it continues the story lines from the last novel. And yet, if you haven't read the previous book, you could still read this because he gives enough detail for you to work out what's happened before. Some of you may be able to remember every detail of each book but I'm absolutely awful at the details and so I found his explanations and back-tracking on things very helpful (trust me, the older you get, the less able to remember anything you'll become!)
I don't want to give away any of the story detail as I would only do the novel an injustice - the detail is finely worked out although, admittedly, I am not a forensic biologist or biological weapons expert and so it's entirely possible that there ARE inaccuracies. However, to the lay reader, it makes sense, isn't too obvious and contains fascinating detail into a subject area most of us probably know little about.
Michael Kelly really does remind me of Phillip Marlowe and that's one of the things I so like about Harvey's books. They're gritty without being unnecessarily or gratuitously violent. There IS violence within the book but always contextualized and necessary,not just there for effect. The characters are mostly well-rounded although one or two of the FBI-type characters were perhaps a little predictable (however, I can't decide if I mean predictable in the sense that they are often very similarly portrayed in Harvey's novels, or predictable in the sense that, obviously, Kelly, as the central character always views them in a similar way. Michael Kelly himself is a bit of an enigma - you find yourself liking him without knowing why. He's incredibly frustrating from a female reader's point of view as you want to scream at him at times, so inept is he with his personal relationships - but, then again, perhaps that's part of the overall male condition from a female perspective!
Seriously though, if you've enjoyed the previous books in this series - do buy this one, it's very enjoyable and absorbing. If you've not read any of Harvey's novels yet, get started! You'll be hooked in no time.
Definitely one I'm very glad I purchased and one I would highly recommend.
