This book was much better than The Casual Vacancy. Rowling does what she does best here - create good stories with intricate plot lines. I couldn't put this one down for a few days. I had to force myself to finish TCV.

Edit Sept 3017: Read for the second or third time. Enjoyable beginning, but realized the book lagged in the middle, and the ending seems to come from no where. 3.5 stars.

The title of this book confused me a bit, but the heart of its message is conflict resolution. Chris Voss uses easy-to-understand language and strategies. He starts off pretty basic with things like tone of voice, repeat what the other person says, etc. He also has some pretty intense stories, as he was a hostage negotiator. After you get past those basics, he has some very groundbreaking ideas on how to negotiate what you want (emotion vs. logic). I really liked his practical examples of what he calls calibrated questions. The statement I will always keep in my back pocket is “How can I make this better for you?” It’s such a great statement to ask an adult or even a younger child when you are trying to negotiate something.

I would definitely recommend this book.

Intriguing at first, kind of fell flat toward the end.