Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I really don't like being critical of authors because writing a book is hard work. And, according to his acknowledgements, this book took him 4 years. So I'm sorry but there are 2 main problems with this book. First, for folks who didn't read the previous 2 books with these characters, he should have considered some recap or summary. Even though I did read the books ("The Book of Fate" introduced Nico Hadrian and "The Inner Circle" introduced the Culper Ring), I didn't remember everything from before and found myself thinking "where did THAT come from?!" (e.g., who is the dead First Lady that Nico keeps talking to?). Secondly, mysteries are good but hopping all over the place to "create" mystery isn't good. Some chapters were 2 pages then you'd hop to 18 years ago for some snippet to explain why the main character feels the way he does about his friend. That whole 18 years ago story just seemed forced and not that relevant to the story. When the book finally, painfully, ends, it turns out that the whole thing isn't finished. Probably for another book, which hopefully will be more tightly written than this jumble. I've read all his books but unfortunately have to say this was my least favorite and one that I had to force myself to finish.