This book took me a while to get into, but once I did, it was unputdownable. The author manages to make one of Shakespeare's implausible plots both modern and believable. (Having said which, I've never read or seen  The Winter's Tale, and now it's on my list to do both.) With one exception, I found myself rooting for each character at some point in the novel, flawed as they were, and even though many of them made very questionable choices at times. The ending was satisfying without being too neat, and I enjoyed the author's breaking of the fourth wall now and again and addressing the reader directly.