I have never been mind fucked before. But this book did it for me. Let me say that I had a lot of trouble with this first installment. The unfortunate truth is that I felt COMPLETELY disconnected from the main characters. ALL OF THEM. My sympathy and interest was placed in the side characters, the other Oligarchs. I wanted to know more about them, and felt terrible when they got hurt or killed. I'll also say, that this book gave me a good dose of realism. In a way that I didn't enjoy. There is only one thing, ONE THING that will break a book for me. That is: death of a youth, can't take it. It breaks my heart and I am dead for the rest of the book. This book had a young death, a murder, and it hurt me bad. However, the concept of the book was ingenious. I have no idea where Jay Bell came up with it, but it had me thinking and thinking.While being a mystery, thriller, drama, and romance, this book had everything to make a book good. Except characters I enjoyed.
