I have read every book in the Joe Ledger series. Over 5,000 pages of action and adventure and monsters. I don't expect every book to blow me away, I expect there to be some peaks and valleys. Unfortunately this book falls into the latter category. 
 Echo team is up against an old foe, yet again, and they are battling enhanced robotics and AI that is trying to kill them all. The singularity concept is interesting and grounds for some intensive debates, but it just doesn't really mesh well with the better plot lines of the previous books. Books with vampire assassins, zombies, chimera hybrid killers, mutants, etc. These just seem kind of dull. The enemies and the combatants just seem kind of low key in comparison. Even the rabies subplot didn't amount to much in this novel and seemed to be attempting to harken back to some of the more intense and violent books that came before this. 
 There also isn't a whole lot of action in this book, which is rough when considering the length. This book really just played as a bridge between Kill Switch and whatever comes next. A novel dedicated to showing how broken all the key players are and a plot line that allows them to all snap the fuck out of it. There isn't the same amount of tension and there isn't the same amount of high stakes action. This was, essentially, a 500 plus page interlude. A greatest hits list of all the other villains that have come before and all the more intense missions the team has dealt with. Some of the key players from most novels aren't even in this book, which is ridiculous. 
 The concept of artificial intelligence is something that is topical and interesting, but it isn't really my idea of an engrossing read. Some of the lectures were really thought provoking to read, and quite dark, but they only amount to so much. And after hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of redundant passages and chapters and godforsaken interludes I was ready for the shit to hit the fan. And when it did, I was left wanting a lot more. 
 This book probably doesn't really deserve 3 stars all things considered, but I love Ledger and he's always pretty fun to read. There is a bit of action to wake you up along the way, and some of the debates and intellectual ramblings are fairly engrossing, but none of it really amounts to much. It all just amounts to a fairly unsatisfying, predictable, and anticlimactic conclusion. This didn't need to be a novel, it only served the purpose of letting us know what the guys and girls have been up to since the shit hit the fan in book 8. 
 Hopefully when the inevitable book 10 hits the shelves Maberry and Echo Team will be back in all their glory.