Long time followers know that I don't give out five stars easily. But this book kept me hooked and engrossed more so than anything else I have read as of late.

As always, finishing a book by Brookmyre leaves me with a deep sadness that yet another tumultuous adventure is over, and I don't really know how long it will be till my next taste. But the saddest part is the last page, About the Author, which says that he has only sold more than a million books in the U.K. Really? Why don't more people know about the wonderful Christopher Brookmyre?!?

On to the book itself - wow, what a roller coaster. What a bunch of twists and turns - although some might opine that there were too many twists, I don't think I saw a single one coming (or I guessed completely wrong - you'll know what I mean when you get through this). But what I liked was that every major character had a background, a motivation and a reason - and half of the fun of reading Brookmyre is watching all of them unfold. What I don't understand, though, is how he writes such complex webs - must be almost impossible to keep track of all of them!

As someone else said below, this isn't a Parlabane book - this is all Sam. U like that reviewer, who gave it three stars only, I very much enjoyed it. The first person perspective really helps you watch her grow, and the resolution of her plot is therefore even more powerful.