This book has come as a very pleasant surprise - intelligent, gritty, perceptive and quite challenging (especially in terms of narrative structure). I do feel as if I'm missing pieces of a much larger puzzle, as some aspects of the story were obviously related to what happened in earlier books in the series (I didn't realise it wasn't a stand alone!), and I think I would benefit from a re-read, to be able to judge it properly as a whole. Nevertheless, I'm pretty impressed, and I will be seeking out more of Welch's books.