What a wild ride. As my friend Margaret said, this is truly the LOTHAIRE of the Maiden Lane series and I was here for it.

Best quote: "Will you drive me mad? Scatter my wits to the wind like so much chaff? Leave me a shell of a man, broken, hollowed of brain and soul, left with merely a throbbing prick like a mindless goat? Have mercy, I plead, O siren of chatelaines and unlovely bonnets! Let my famished mouth feast upon thy sweet, sweet flesh. I am awash in yearning spunk.”

Val's inner monologue was a delight, if somewhat disturbing, to read. He is a villain and he's had a lot of trauma. I don't know what to say about the mental health rep in this story at all, or that he and Bridget end up in Istanbul at the end, but I had a fun time reading this.

LOTS of CWs - mostly including child endangerment and discussion of rape/attempted rape to children and adults.