Points in favor of the book is that the “bad guy” is obvious from the beginning, but Pendal doesn’t try to pull any Dan Brown twists, instead sticking to the less-manipulative tack of allowing the reader to see how the characters discover whodunit. Also, Pendal grants a believable humanity to the odious Malcolm. On the down side, the writing is uneven, the gore is gratuitous, and the facts come together all too easily and neatly. Still, like the aforementioned Brown, Pendal kept me turning the pages, and it wasn’t until the last chapters that I could no longer suspend my disbelief. ( )