Bill Moore is a real-estate agent in Florida, who seems to be getting on fine; one day he finds a business card on his desk that simply says "Modified". And then things start going awry in his life. In parallel, another storyline -presumably having something to do with what's going on with Bill - John Hunter is released from prison after having served a term for a murder he didn't commit.

This reminded me a bit of Harlen Coben: there's the same sense of an innocent man having his life turned upside-down as a result of some dreadful thing which happened in the past, even though there seem to be loads of other people in on the secret who won't explain things properly to him. Through the book, Bill struggles to make sense of what's going on, and the reader also has trouble piecing things together, even though we have privileged knowledge of Hunter's actions and movements.

One thing I did think was interesting in the book was that Bill started off as a rather unsympathetic character (his sections are written in the first person): boasting about his abilities and generally rather pleased with himself. As the book progressed though, you he lost that air of confidence and you felt more sorry for him. And at the end, he turns a bit barmy and paranoid: so much so that you wonder whether perhaps his sections are all that reliable. I'm not sure how much this was intentional, but I enjoyed the change.

I also liked the way that the book didn't really end with loose ends being tied up - although that would have been a bit difficult I think. What was a bit of a shame was the "reveal" where Bill is finally told what's going on. But on the whole it was a pretty enjoyable read.

Towards the end of the book, mention is made of the "Straw Men", and when Bill is trying to find information out about them, he mentions finding a novel that has some information about them. It took me a little while to realise that the book was the same Straw Men that I'd read about 7 years ago, and it's by this author. I liked that book, and I liked this one. So I've got another Marshall book ready to go.

Completed : 16-Sep-2013 (audiobook)