I hated this book. No, I *loathed* it. Yes, it's a Claire North book which means it's written professionally and it's motivated by intriguing ideas. It also means there's a psychotic villain facing off against our hero who (as always) for some supernatural reason cannot live in the normal world as a normal person due to some special ability that also acts as a curse. That pretty much describes all three of her "Written as Claire North books". 
 In this one, I just couldn't stand the main character. She was just awful. The villain was more over the top than ever. The plot didn't feel like a plot, it felt like running an endurance marathon, sitting through endless political rants. Yeah, sure it hit all the "North" plot points, but it would have been better suited for blog posts than a novel. 
 I'm surprised given how much I admired Lives and really liked Touch. So in a nutshell: Read Touch. Consider reading Lives if you loved Touch. Avoid Hope, even with a ten foot forgettable pole.