As with all Moriarty's novels, this one starts on a cliff and drops you onto a rollercoaster, diving over curves and corners and sharp turns with surprise after revelation on towards the twisted end. It's well-timed, well-spaced, with juicy but realistic enough well-flawed characters from the protagonist to the third-level support.

The plot starts at the climax, then wraps round to the beginning and unwinds from the third person perspective of each participant in this crime, bouncing comprehensively back and forth on the timeline in a way that keeps you reading to find out more about that crime. If there's a crime. But yes, there's definitely a crime that's happened somewhere along the way... we're just very uncertain what it might be.

In the meantime, we get sucked into all the messy relationships and misunderstandings, and beg for the shining light of hope in all their lives in one way or another. Even for the most vile of these people, that hope might win out in the end. Cos we need hope in our world in these times.

Moriarty keeps you hooked and involved, desperate for the details till the unexpected end.