Equal parts action and attitude

Nic is the star of this book, and his personality cuts through with colorful snark and cold calculation. It's fun to get inside his head :) And this book is packed with great action. My only gripe is that the climax is the same as that of Crook Q, but seen through Nic's POV. And while that's interesting, it's also not new information. Still, some events leading up to that were new (not covered by previous books in the series).

Some parts I found memorable:
-"Still, the island (where Nic was imprisoned) definitely seemed like a place where you left things to decompose. I was confident that's what the government intended to do with me."
-"You can't just cast blame around like confetti; if you wanted it to stick, you had to prime the wall."
-(after someone's silly remark) "It was almost enough to make me believe in either God or the devil. Clearly, one of them had sent these two to torture me before my time."
-this characterizes Nic the best: "I left without saying goodbye to any of them. My brain was already occupied with working out a schematic for tampering with the machines, and I didn't have time to waste on civilaity."

So I've read almost all of Newhouse's work, and this one of my favorites. Nic is one of the funnest POV characters I've read, and he's got plenty of smarts to back up all his 'tude. The pace is solid and the book is chock full of clever one-liners. I turn the page and wonder what funny thing Nic will say next :) If you've read the series up till now, you already know you're in for a treat.