I loved all Gruber's previous books, but found this one less than enthralling. It needs editing - it's way too long without adding much to the story. I found my attention wandering as he jumps from character to character or gets overly involved in descriptions of bookbinding or ciphers or such. I didn't find the characters particularly interesting and by halfway through the book I didn't much care what happened to them. All in all, it's decent but a comedown for him. Has fame gone to his head?