A typical Boyle with all I like about his books: The tone where one does not really know, if one should laugh or cry or be afraid, the characters of whom each has their faults and still is somewhat likeable, the good historic recherche,... But somehow I get to the point, where I think, to know one of Boyle's novels is to know all of them. There were no real surprises, everything turned out exactly as guessed. Though it was still an entertaining and informative read, there were times when I started to get bored.