For most of this novel, I was wondering why it was apparently less well rated than the previous instalments - then I got to the last third of the book.

There was a fair amount of glorification of gun culture and the narrative seemed to take it for granted that vigilante action was justifiable and to be applauded.

John Smith's character was so thinly defined here that it was hard to see why anyone would be that bothered about saving him; he seemed at times to be naive about his online activities and yet at other times we were reminded of his cyber tsar type job at the FBI and he was able to tap into the Monkeywrench phone line... Then there was his death-by-terrorist act at the end, which endangered Grace too.

The Monkeywrench crew, the most paranoid group on earth, failed to notice they were being followed by mysterious taxis and didn't think to check for a tracking device.

The author seemingly couldn't be bothered to explain how John's tip-offs made their way to Joe, Claude and Chief, nor how Joe got to hear about the kidnapped girls, nor how the terrorists worked out who John was (unless he went through one of his ridiculously naive phases online).

Nor could the author be bothered to describe the shoot-out at the end in any detail; suddenly it was all over. Then came the epilogue, which I suppose I should have been expecting.