I remember his last novel (Pushing Ice) as having a great science-wowzer plot, wrapped around a character narrative which resembled two preadolescent girls sulking at each other for two hundred years. Reynolds is clearly maturing as a writer; the characters in this book are solidly adolescent. Even the rookie cop, who most nearly has an excuse, feels underage. All the rest fall off the credibility wagon when they fail to arrest the obvious bad guy for acting like an obvious bad guy in public. Oh, well. There's a plot, and things explode.