This book is stunning as are all of the skulduggery pleasant books. It pulls you in and holds on until the last page. I finished it in 2 days and now cant wait till the 5th book coming out sep 2010. The book is so varied its an action/adventure,crime thriller,comedy,fantasy and horror all rolled into one. And when i say horror i mean it, addmitedly the seires has always been fairly grim but this is the darkest by far. There's vampires,zombies,evil spirits (and exsorsists), pycopathes,torturing and a lot more where that came from. However this isnt a bad think it simply adds to the gothic feel of it. I was very supprised by the ending, its a real cliffhanger and gives you an idea of what to expect in future books. So far each one has lead into another answering and asking questions to really keep the story interesting. This is the best series of books ive ever read they are thrilling,intriguing,quirky and charming. The best one so far I would recommend these books to anyone they are amazing.