I enjoyed this one more than the other works of Schwab's that I'd read - but I still don't get the hype.

I did like the pacing of the book - the way the author plays with time and context to give us just enough information to understand things, but leave us wanting more. This book was an addictive one, purposefully. I also enjoy Schwab's use of language in general, both in this book and in her Shades of Magic series. 

The characterisation, though,  remains flimsy. Characters brush off trauma far too easily, nobody seems to have any consistent morals (they're amoral, I understand that, but Schwab had set them up with a seemingly solid moral code, only to leave it by the wayside; or the reverse, where an amoral character suddenly displays the strictest adherence to a code that hadn't existed only chapters before), and people's abilities (superpowers?) seem to be governed by no logic other than the fickle whims of the plot.

Speaking of the aforementioned fickle whims, so much of the story couldn't have made sense if things reflected reality. From social structures (where were security guards the night that

Victor got his power

? Who invites THREE cocaine dealers to a house party? Who lets a small child enter, then exit,

a morgue

with no repercussions?), to the way police departments work. Victor and Mitch

broke out of prison

and not once did that bite them in the ass. 

It's an action-packed, fast paced read, that stops making sense the moment you think too hard about it. When a story aims to suspend your disbelief, regardless of how whimsical or unreal the concept is, its believability is what keeps readers engaged. On that front, "Vicious" fell upsettingly short.