Very easy reading, if you can avoid thinking too hard about all the murders and other cruelty and stuff, but not mindless by any means. Very focused on parent-child relationships. Quite a lot of talk about evil people - but this is a bit misleading as it's more evil emerging out of evil done to people rather than people being evil in themselves. Or maybe I'm just putting my own thoughts into it. Anyway I liked all the different strands of story. Must have liked it because after I finished this book I immediately started reading the next one in the series....