I throughly enjoyed reading this book, and, although it maybe heresy to say this, I think I enjoyed it even more than some of the Lectre books, especially Hannibal and Hannibal rising. I also found it especially interesting as I've been recently doing a lot of research into John McCain (a former Vietnam POW) over the last few months, and it was fascinating to read Harris's depiction of life in a Vietnam POW camp. I do, however, agree with other comments, that this is very much a thriller, and if you don't particuarly like thrillers, then this prehaps is not the best Thomas Harris book for you.