content: I picked up this book used for a couple dollars while on vacation and spent the rest of my vacation reading it. I rated this book 4 stars because even though I found it to be very enjoyable, I seemed to easily figure out where the plot was heading, Nevertheless, I was still surprised by the ending. I found the tension between hester and Monk to be both intriguing and frustrating, especially when it was not resolved at the end of the book. Needless to say, I was delighted to discover that there are 11 (soon to be 12) more books in the series. I plan to read them all.