I have been reading since I was 4 years old and now have a personal library of my favorites, consisting of almost 3,000 books (Heaven only knows what my children will do with them when I have gone to that big library in the sky) and I also have the Kindle 2. I have also compiled a list from Amazon's forums of the greatest mysteries other people have read. So, I don't consider myself a beginner on reading good books.
Allison Brennan is an excellent writer, usually writing trilogies. I have read all her books and am anxiously awaiting the next. I wrote her an email, asking how she comes up with such unusual plots and she was kind enough to send me a long answer. So, with all that said, I would suggest you read her books in the 3-book form as she carries some characters from one book to the next. They are stand-alone books but I would still suggest this. One thing you can readily see is how she improves with each book. However, you should be warned that her books do stand up tall in the genre of THRILLERS. The main antagonist is always scary and extremely clever. The books always have good endings. This one is no exception. All her books are good.