This book is a lot better than I thought it would be. For example, I was less than 30 pages in when I spotted the link between all the victims. I told myself that if the investigators haven’t spotted it by page 100 and I am right, I will give a big zero. Twenty pages later, the moment they have time to run the data, they do. It was interesting enough that by page 91 I was nearly late for a doctor’s appointment because I couldn’t put it down.

I had no problems with the formatting, the cover was good enough to make me pick it up, and the writing was very,very, strong. The science and background is well thought out and the world-building is fantastic. No character in this book is stupid, and while there’s not much background for some of them, the situation keeps them moving so quickly they wouldn’t have time for introspection anyway. I really didn’t understand some of Randall’s actions, but he is a reactive rather than an active character so lashing out might be part of who he is.

The conspirac(ies) in this deserve special mention. Just for once, the plot doesn’t rely on co-incidence happening, there’s a reason for everything makes them happen, and it is actually believable. The ending was…well I could pick holes but it made sense that after decades of planning once everything is in place events would end very quickly. There was only one part where I wanted to scream at the book: if you’re negotiating with an exec who wants money over one product pointing out they have something worth infinitely more on the open market right in front of them would make sense. The main characters don’t, but then no one is perfect.

There’s a little too many adult references for children (Honeydew is a courtesan, after all), but teen or older readers should love it. Speculative fiction readers, might like it, and note some simularities to a couple of well-known sci-fi stories by popular authors. I’m not saying which as that would spoil the ending, but rest assured, this story stands up there with them. There is a strong environmental message, but that is natural given the theme and is not heavy handed enough to take readers out of the story.

For sci-fi fans, what can I say? You won’t regret reading it. Even conspiracy or techno-thriller readers might enjoy it if they can get past the hard science elements.