"Standing happy and slightly drunk in my kitchen, I'm unaware that tonight is the end of all this. The end of everything I know, everything I love." 
 So starts a thrill ride that took me to a place (places) I did not, and could not have expected. Though I had purposely not read the cover (btw - reading it gives nothing away), I had made assumptions as to the plot. Weirdly, I had thought the story would be about something else. I don't know why. But the book went somewhere else, and I think that's better than what my imagination could possibly create in its assumptions. 
 If I don't first care about Jason (protagonist), then I probably wouldn't care for the suspense that's set and the ride that follows. I think the left side of my brain would have been blown either way, because the ideas that come are more than worthy of blowing this simple mind. I'm not even going to hint at those ideas here. Not knowing is probably better. I have to believe it is. I will say that without the personal feel of this story, without getting to know Jason, then this is not the same book. 
 5 stars for so many things, but I am left with one lingering thought: Where are you Amanda?