incredibly paced with really, really good characters to match. i loved the multiple parties that had a decent role in the action of this and how developed each was, mostly equally.

was (am) concerned a little with the terrorism plot and haven’t read reviews or other sensitive viewpoints but WITHOUT deeper knowledge, i feel like Newman did justice to the parties directly involved. i am under-informed and ignorant RE US & SWANA tensions so my opinion carries no weight but i felt empathy more than anything toward Ben & Sam’s experience, which is not something often offered.

my standout characters are easily Jo, Sam, and Big Daddy - this felt like i was reading at the pace of a commercial airline, a very “high octane” read that delivered where it needed to!

will absolutely read more of this author for pacing, plot & realistic thriller characters.

this is my very first front to back novel with my first grader and he was so into it 🥰 the action and the family bits are very nice, but i have a robot vendetta and feel mostly uncomfy with Roz’s existence.

i’ll get my 7 yr kid’s review tomorrow

at first i thought to myself, "writing about a poor person when you apparently have no experience with poor people was certainly a choice but at least the author seems to have some grasp on Rich Behavior" and then i kept reading and i realized the author seems to have zero grasp on reality in any capacity, regardless of tax bracket. no one's behavior or actions were at any point logical. the non-linear POVs were jarring throughout, as one would run for a good block of time before it suddenly swapped back to the other POV & the reader has to recalculate time to figure out where we last left off with Lyla or Demi, seemingly without much emphasis for where one story would end. almost none of the author's choices made for an enjoyable read, though i will say i liked the style of the writing (if you take out every character & each of their actions that make up this novel).

WELLLLLL it took the series until book 4 for a lot of pieces to start feeling a little formulaic, which is where i usually hop off the train. i’m having strangely mixed feelings about this book more than the others, because i feel like for all of the (potential) detractors, i’m really satisfied with two of the main elements of the novel.

outside of Eric & Kyle (appalling MC name choices) being perhaps the best individually developed characters of the series thus far, a lot of the rest of this feels almost like a template of the same story in a slightly different accent. Eric & Kyle were finally BOTH equally developed characters, well-balanced in a way that wasn’t accomplished with Scott & Kip or Ryan & Fabian. tbh i’m not sure RR’s Shane & Ilya compare as well to how fleshed out both our hockey star & his lover are in this one. i also LOVE their sexual dynamic AND the open & easy intimacy these two share. after you get past their stellar chemistry, the rest of this love story is mostly a rinse & repeat of all of the other pairings, down to the clearly requited adoration, intense efforts at conflict avoidance paired w abysmal conflict resolution, concluding with little on page resolution. some of the wording in the final break up and/or getting back together scenes are virtually the same lines lightly edited. however, i’m obviously committed to the current end game level that is The Long Game so i will be reading the next novel. i love seeing Matti Jalo again (am i the only one with high hopes he would be our next hockey star x hockey star pairing maybe) & obviously Ilya’s immaculately timed-and-worded appearances, and his soft little puppy eyes at Shane.