As in all the novels by Fred Vargas, the plot is well put together, the characters are endearing, or extraordinarily disturbing normal but somehow they do not leave indifferent. Like "real life" the reader will discover in the pages, men and women whose personality is not defined in the 1st chapter. Every advance in the story can modify, refine, prove or disprove the initial impression of the reader. At the end of the book, I had the feeling of knowing each character for a long time. I was a little sad to leave them.