As other reviewers have pointed out, Where All The Dead Lie is much different in tone from the author's other Taylor Jackson novels. More introspective (necessarily), more intense. There's a delightful sense of the Gothic about it--and it's a very refreshing, contemporary take on the form. Don't be fooled into thinking Ellison might be taking the easy way out, given that Jackson is a well-established series character. Each book in the series is something new in the world. And that's a good thing.