solid writing but the killer never really earned their reveal.

The first few chapters, I felt this novel was a failed attempt at the whimsical tenor many SF authors try but can’t really pull off. But I stuck with it and throughly enjoyed this book. Not a thinker but very entertaining to me.

a short book; only about 200 pages. There were 96 times a character shrugged, 125 times a character nodded and 138 times characters shook their heads. Hopefully the author improves with the rest of the series but I will never find out.

this meeting could have been an email.

I enjoyed the plot, the story and the storytelling. The author, though, kept attempting unique turns of phrases or descriptions but they were not grounded enough to evoke or describe their targets.

wanted to enjoy this more. A little political intrigue;a little queerness and wrapped into a bow of Vietnamese heritage. But the rhythm of the writing was off for me. So much that I only made it halfway through before giving up.

There is an idea of a novel here, but this attempt fails. The dialogue is horrible. 

Author writes good assholes; not cartoonish ones usually found in this genre. 

Unfortunately this one was more a long set up for the next book than a standalone.