Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series, it was with high expectations that I began reading this third book in the Simon Bloom series. Unfortunately, by the time I had finished I felt a bit of a let down. I think that this came, primarily as a result of the seemingly long, drawn out, and confusing explanation that Simon makes to explain the three laws of thermodynamics. Not being a student of science I don't know of any other way that this could have been done, and I have to assume, that the author did the best he possibly could have to explain this to the unlearned. Unfortunately for me it was still too confusing. I almost wonder if it would have been better to just state what the three laws are without trying to go into detail trying to explain how and why they work. Outside of this I found the story to be quite enjoyable. Although I was surprised by it, I like the way that the conflict with Sirabetta concludes. All in all, I must say, well done Michael Reisman and thank you for such an enjoyable series. This is one I quite often recommend to my readers who think that they just don't like Science Fiction. Often, it causes them to change their minds.