Title: not very good, frankly
Product review: Despite the mountains of hype that this book has generated - mysteriously - it turns out to be a rambling, flacid thriller with glancing pretensions to scholarship. The details that are evoked most lovingly, like life in Princeton dining clubs, are of interest only to those who experienced them. It's like being trapped at a dinner party with a bunch of recent Princeton grads remembering the good old days, and unconvincingly attempting to inflate the mundane details of Princeton life into something transcendent. As for the mystery and the celebrated puzzle-solving in the plot, there are one or two neat twists, but mostly it has been done better elsewhere. The writers are talented, but green. I do not think their publishers have done them a favor by conflating this early effort into a best-selling event. It is only likely to make more difficult the writing of the truly good book that may still be within their grasp.
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