This should be a four star book for anyone else, it just ended up at 3 for me because of my familiarity with Kelley Armstrong's writing. 
 This is obviously not going to be a replacement for the Cainsville series in my heart (with the final book coming out this year, I'm desperately searching for something to ease the end) but it was the kind of quality work I've come to expect from Armstrong. I will say that after having personally read SO many of her books (at least 30 adult and YA novels by now), it's impossible to avoid seeing the similarities in diction, characterization, and the trademark unexpected betrayal. As a result, the suspense part is somewhat lost on me because I could already figure out who was the murderer, just based on the usual pattern from Armstrong's other books. Unfortunately some of the themes are also getting a little stale, but then again, I'm sure most people don't read practically an author's entire work. 
 Casey's story didn't grab me as much as those of some of my other favorite heroines and in the end, Eric Dalton gave me a strong impression of being kind of a poor man's Clayton (toned down feral background and all) and that kind of killed it for me. Once I started noticing the watered down characteristics of all the past characters I've read about, it was impossible to not keep seeing them. Once an English major, always an English major. Even when I try my best not to analyze or notice patterns, I still do. 
 I still like the characters a lot, I just don't LOVE them the way I do some of Armstrong's others - Elena & Clay, Olivia & Gabriel (& Ricky!), Chloe & Derek, etc.