This is definitely a book of two halfs, starts off seeming like a cold war spy thriller with a very old sleeper agent being reactivated. But then about 2/3 through takes a very dark turn indeed that i was not expecting and there was no hint of in the synopsis. I was getting a little bored, thinking it was going into far too much detail about the job of one of the characters, but that dramatic turn then made much more sense.
There are further twists yet to come, only one of which i saw coming a mile off, the other main one i admit was a surprise. The spy element seemed to get forgotten for about half the book, with Granny off doing whatever and only getting brief snippets of her time. The main focus is on Sara, her job, her relationship with her daughter, husband and her own mother and how things from the past weren't what they might have seemed at the time. She also seems a bit too angry to be working as a cop as she takes it out on the people she is arresting, don't think you would last long in the job with such violent tendencies.
There's also a look into how well known celebrity figures can abuse their position to get up to all kinds of dark things, knowing they will get away with it - well for a time anyway, most people get caught out eventually. And this links back into the spy section with agents from all sorts of agencies all keeping eyes on each other and using videos of the nefarious deeds from the celebrity's parties to blackmail influential and equally dodgy politicians and other influential figures.
I felt the ending was a little abrupt after such a build up, and partly unbelievable, but i can't go into that any further without major spoiler, just that it left me dissatisfied.
There are further twists yet to come, only one of which i saw coming a mile off, the other main one i admit was a surprise. The spy element seemed to get forgotten for about half the book, with Granny off doing whatever and only getting brief snippets of her time. The main focus is on Sara, her job, her relationship with her daughter, husband and her own mother and how things from the past weren't what they might have seemed at the time. She also seems a bit too angry to be working as a cop as she takes it out on the people she is arresting, don't think you would last long in the job with such violent tendencies.
There's also a look into how well known celebrity figures can abuse their position to get up to all kinds of dark things, knowing they will get away with it - well for a time anyway, most people get caught out eventually. And this links back into the spy section with agents from all sorts of agencies all keeping eyes on each other and using videos of the nefarious deeds from the celebrity's parties to blackmail influential and equally dodgy politicians and other influential figures.
I felt the ending was a little abrupt after such a build up, and partly unbelievable, but i can't go into that any further without major spoiler, just that it left me dissatisfied.