The book is much too long and becomes a slog. The author is trying to introduce a lot of slow horses in his series, this is the first volume. But it kind of goes on and on, you have to keep referring back to see who's who. Then towards the end, he tells two different plots, occurring simultaneously. The text just switches from one paragraph to the next with totally different characters, locations, outcomes, etc. It should be at least 50 pages shorter. I finished it but, and I can't believe I'm saying this, the series currently streaming with Gary Oldham is way better.