About halfway through the book I was indescribably excited. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so pleased and excited by a book that I had to literally PUT IT DOWN for a minute so I didn’t scream or jump up or make a fool of myself on the bus. Getting all prepared for the end of what was going to be the best book ever, all of a sudden it started getting less and less good. It was still good all in all, but I was supremely disappointed when things started winding down instead of winding UP. I did literally scream a little fangirlish scream when all the old characters started crawling out of the woodwork. However…

++++++++++++++++++++POSSIBLE+++++SPOILER???+++++++++++++++

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++I felt like the authors should have done the right thing and killed off more people. The story felt kind of incomplete when the possibility was SO CLOSE and it would have been SO GOOD. It was the hard thing to do to let go and kill some of those favorite characters, but it would have been very very satisfying (even though I’ve been right there with them, loved them even, by all rights they should have died).+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++

It sets things up for the next one (which I MUST get my hands on!). But if you’ve never read anything by Preston and Child, don’t even think about reading this because you probably won’t understand. You COULD, but it would be wasted. Part of the deliciousness of this book is in how it ties in to just about every previous book by them (even ones in which there was no character overlap), or at least gives joking references to the other books.