I was pleasantly surprised by this. This was my first experience with a book by this author. At some points I felt the story dragged, but once the other shoe started dropping in the last third of the book, I understood the reasoning for each and every thing that had taken place prior to that point. The surprises never stopped coming until the very end, either. The ending plot twist blew my mind...I really did not see that coming! Because of the originality and the way the book left me mind blown in the end, I have to rate 5 stars. Nice job Mark Edwards!