I received an ARC of this one, and I wasn't expecting to get into it because of how far along it is in a series. While it still wasn't my taste, it wasn't terrible, and it worked well as a stand-alone, without having ever had any prior introduction to the series. It's always rather nice when that occurs, because ARC giveaways aren't always particularly clear as to whether something is a part of a series or not. Overall, again, while this wasn't my taste, the characters were well developed and the storyline was both plausible and easy to follow. It would have been better served with a greater amount of research, particularly when it comes to procedural aspects of the book. It's the kind of book where, if you found that someone left it in a hotel room or something, you'd read it to have something to do other than watch tv, but at the same time, if you brought your own book with you, this one wouldn't really pull you away from it. It's a solid middle of the pack book.