If the story reminds readers of Homer’s The Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid, in which jealousy over a beauty named Helen sparked a war between the Greeks and the Trojans, it should. Winslow peppers his yarn with allusions and quotes from the epic Greek poems, casting Ryan in the role of a modern-day warrior at odds with his fate ... Winslow has earned a reputation as one of the finest crime novelists writing in English.
The story is well crafted but for a deus ex machina ending, and even that is enough of a shocker that readers may not mind. Along the way are a couple of eye-popping twists. And there are some great lines ... The story has no more violence than many other crime thrillers, but a sense of hopelessness progressively builds.
