Readable but disappointing for me. I was impressed with Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy and OK with the Void Trilogy. This book, second in the earlier Mandel trilogy, has none of the cosmic expanse of those later works. It is set in an intermediate future -- say 50 years on -- and takes place completely in England. For me this smaller scope hurts. Dubious science can be forgiven in the far future in an intergalactic conflict. It's another to see it in a cozy murder. Both the method of murder and how the detection makes a key discovery depend on nonsense technology that I would expect in a second-tier TV series. There is also a secondary plot involving a rich heiress and her computer-simulated grandfather that seems like an homage to Heinlein's worst elements.

Read if you want, but no need to seek it out. ( )

Portions read as anti-religion. Author has little real understanding of good and evil and how they present in the real world. Science and technology background is fairly consistent, although there is one HUGE reaching scenario. Characters interact and develop reasonably well. Protagonist is likeable. ( )

Even allowing for the fact that I think the author's digression into poetically erudite space-fillers is a big distraction for me (I don't care what kind of stylish clothing everyone is wearing--what the hell does any of it have to do with the plot?), his stories are, otherwise, really good. A good 'locked room" murder mystery, with a lot of sideline action that serves to fill in a lot of the background story of the milieu--or, sometimes is just more digression. I also have to admit that Hamilton portrays a pretty convincing "England after the sea levels rise and swamp the British coasts; and after a fascist right wing government has mostly lost control of Britain; and one of the super industrial cartels is taken over by a savvy teenage heiress". In any case, if the haute couture entices some females to read his stories, the more power to him...and them. [And, I must add that I don't remember any such problems with Hamilton's later stories---'Pandora's Star' & 'Judas Unchained' had no such distractions that I can remember.] One other thing that bothered me is Barclay Shaw's cover illustration: both characters look much too young, and the Eleanor on the cover does not match her description in the book! ( )

Terrific book! ( )

The only quarrel I had with this book was how Juliet was obsessed with how the media perceived her outfits. Otherwise a great book. Definitely enjoyed the solving of the murder. ( )