I am a huge Cornwell fan, but her last two (this one and the previous one) books have been a big let-down. I wanted to like this book and I didn't exactly hate it, I just felt that somewhere along the way she has lost the feel for the characters she has written about for so long. The characters seemed tired and the storyline carried none of the suspense that the books from earlier in the series always had. I guess the best way I can describe it is to say that the characters conveyed a sense of weariness and it left me feeling less than fulfilled to have read such a big book. To be honest, the book could have been about half its' size and it would have been fine- way too much extraneous stuff in it.
