John Corey is a great character, but I wouldn't call this a great John Corey novel. The upsides are DeMille's trademark sassy humor and his ability to tell a story that is hard to put down. The downsides are that the story is longer than it needs to be, given a plot that relies on tired villains who need to be retired as thriller villains. I did, however, appreciate the background (which is probably meant to be educational but is likely to bore the very readers it is meant to educate). I'd rather read an informative thriller that is a bit too long than a mindless thriller that gets the killing done quickly.