This was the first in the Michael Bennett series I have read but I didn’t feel like I had to have read the previous instalments to understand the story and characters. Bennett’s backstory and family members were introduced and explained throughout, so I wasn’t confused or missing anything particularly necessary to this story. My own curiosity would have liked to know the specific reason Brian was in prison, but it was alluded to in a general way, so it wasn’t necessary to go into the details. The plot itself interesting and I enjoyed really getting to know both sets of contract killers. Some plot points were predictable and the murder at the beginning was largely forgotten until it was tied up in the final chapter. I was taken by surprise by the takedown of Henry near the end, I had not seen that plan coming. Additionally, it was nice to have an American cop story that didn’t constantly rely on guns and shootouts. Most of the story involved physical altercations and the one weaponised shootout that happened was done well. Michael Bennett himself seems like a good character but truthfully, there is not much differing him from a lot of other American police (in particular NYPD) officers heading up these sort of novels. Overall, this was a decent story and I wouldn’t turn my nose up at reading more of Michael Bennett should I come across other instalments.