** spoiler alert ** 3,5 stars. Enjoyable, occasionally engrossing read, with some reservations (see ‘nitpicks’ below).

THE GOOD:

- The writing is much better than the first book: the plot is basically a long chase scene, but it is an engagingly written one.

- It is interesting to see Holmes interacting with his son (in a very restrained way, as befits someone with a “cold, precise but admirably balanced mind”), and Russell with her step-granddaughter, without it becoming embarrassingly saccharine.

- Mycroft’s apartment, with all the built-in secret passages and hidden safes. And the clever use of a character from 'The Greek Interpreter' as a living clue to both Mycroft’s whereabouts and hidden nature.

- The Robert Goodman character, which works both as a portrait of a trench-scarred young man and as a Loki/Puck/Forest Deity avatar. I’m not sure how much of this aspect of the character is supposed to be taken literally --- but it somehow meshes well with the rest of the story. That said, I don’t really get what the connection are between him and the other ‘Gods’ in the story --- evidently, I’m not as theologically inclined as both Russell and King.


NITPICKS:

- There is not much mystery here, as the villains are already indentified early on (by a third person omniscient voice, one of the several different ones used in this novel).

- The connection between West and Brothers is tenuous at best; if West’s ultimate aim is to destabilize Mycroft Holmes’ grip on British intelligence, why use Damian, an illegitimate nephew whom he hardly knows, and whose connection to him is unlikely to cause any public damage to him? As underscored by further plot developments, West has no need for Damian at all, as he has enough power to simply grab Mycroft off the street and throw him into a private dungeon.

- The hostage exchange climax doesn’t really make sense. Why would West, a man who aspires to control British intelligence, need to be there in person (albeit hidden behind a mask), accompanied only by an amateurish thug? And why have it happen on Westminster Bridge, right at the heart of London, in broad daylight? It makes for a great cinematic scene, with Big Ben and other London icons as a backdrop, but it stretches credulity just a bit too much.