From the first book in the series, I’ve wanted to see what caused Steffen to be the big paranoid conspiracy theorist he is. In the previous books, I didn’t get a sense that anyone really tried to dig into the whole reason why. They just accepted that he was one. In this book, we find out those reasons and why no one really tried to dig into Steffen’s history. And oh boy, it explains a lot.

There were so many surprises for me in this book, the first one being how long Wil and Steffen have been in a relationship. It made sense why no one knew with Steffen’s paranoia. I loved how Wil knew Steffen so well that he would read when the paranoia was coming to the forefront for Steffen and what to do when it did. Another surprise occurs more towards the end of the book. The “mystery” in this book was back forwards the intensity level of the Hidden Species series for me.

With that said, I think one of my favorite things was how beneficial Steffen’s paranoia was for him and for the safety of the community at large in this book. There were a number of times that Steffen’s need to plan and protect saved them. It was nice to see some vindication for him. I was also glad to see Steffen get a handle on the control his paranoid had over him, learning how to accept and acknowledge it. Wil’s understanding and acceptance of where Steffen was made me love his character even more. He helps Steffen grow so much with his mental health in this book.

The book has a great ending, where it leaves these two along with the rest of the dragon family.