It's been years since I've woken in the middle of the night and could not stop reading till the dawn. This did it! V. fast paced, great hero, think James Bond but more geek like. Lots of quick paced action, but not too quick and plenty of character development to be trashy. Yes its one of those holiday reads that is easy going and doesn't tax the brain too much, BUT and it is a big BUT I found this triller much more thought out, interesting and to be honest believable than the catergory of books it would normally be put in. To be honest its made me by the second in the series as this was loaned by a friend. So if you like adventure thrillers aka Lee Childs Jack Reacher and Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (thank goodness this hero is called Marc) then you will not be disappointed!