Typical Reilly - fun read as long as you don't think to much and don't mind innumerable excited italics and 'cliffhanger' chapter endings.

Just like all of Reilly's other novels, don't think to hard - just enjoy.

Big, Stupid-smart, and fast, just like all of his novels. SR starts fast and ends faster, and regardless of the ridiculous corners he paints his characters into Reilly always finds an at least semi-plauable way to pull them out without relying on Deus Ex Machina contrivances.

Fast paced action like one has come to expect from Reilly.

Interwoven tales ala Grand Hotel.

A classic that builds slowly through three generations of ancestry, before following the life of the main character from school to war to work, all within the confines of regimented Philadelphia society.

Fourth in the series, set in Virginia during the wind-down after WWII, and again blending antiques with mystery mobsters and murder.

Slightly Rashemon in style, board meetings of a newspaper bookend the novel, and in between the chapters follow all of the members individually as they live a week in the business while deciding on the election of a new publisher.

I'd love to know if this story cam first and was expanded into the novel or if it was cut down for propaganda purposes.

Irrelevant to the plot, but a couple excerpts of the notes from the printing I have:

"Will you pass this booklet on to someone else when your family has read it? Especially to someone who has no son or brother or husband in the Service. Most people who have a man in the Service can appreciate the need for extreme caution in safeguarding military information. But those who don't should be made aware that what they say may have an important bearing on the very lives of your loved ones." 

"IMPORTANT: In the interest of economy and due to the scarcity of paper, only a limited number of these booklets have been printed. Take care of yours and pass it on."

Unsettling and heartbreaking. classic King.

A bit more boldly politically liberal than previous installments, but still entertaining story-wise.

Simplistic to the point of absurdity, morally relativistic, and detached from reality to a fantastical degree.