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page turner, page turner! supernatural and super-scientific terrorist attacks are rocking London! as always! the super powered super secret agent club called The Checquy that protects UK interests sure do have their hands full! it's a good thing nearly all their agents have super powers like vanishing and spouting green fire and microscopic vision and turning air hard and looking through walls and reversing their aging process so they can be the Amazonian goddess they were back in yesteryear! go, Checquy, go! save England, you can do it!

much like its predecessor, Stiletto's narrative is propulsive. this is an exciting book and I had a fun time reading it. O'Malley doesn't necessarily expand his world; instead he just lets the reader live in it - this time we get to see it both from the inside and the outside, rather than being slowly introduced to it by an amnesiac protagonist. he's a confident writer who clearly had a great time writing this, and he wants his readers to have the same great time. the sheer enthusiastic bravado on display often helped me rush past the novel's flaws: haphazard storytelling that is often (frustratingly) episodic despite the tension of the overarching narrative; an unappealing lack of interest in the deaths of many brave supporting characters; weak motivation for its villains; a lot of repetitiousness; a strident snarkiness that is dialed a bit back from The Rook but is still worthy of a few cringes. I liked this book quite a bit although sadly its bloat really displayed its flaws. it should have been trimmed to at least two-thirds its current length.

but... page turner, page turner! these terrible terrorist attacks couldn't have come at a worse time! The Checquy are right at the start of an international merge with their former foes, villains of the last novel, and now new best friends... The Grafters! The Grafters see Checquy as creepy violently-powered monsters who love killing Grafters! The Checquy see Grafters as secretive cyborg super-scientists who love killing Checquy! they're both correct!

one of the best things about Stiletto - besides the wonderfully hyperactive imagination on display - is that its two heroines have nothing on their minds but work and working with each other and what to wear and what not to wear. no annoying boys get in the way of their characterization or their budding bramance. Bechdel Test passed, with flying colors. it sure is great when romance isn't shoehorned into a plot that doesn't need it, and when a woman is not defined in relationship to a man she likes/who likes her. kudos to O'Malley for that, and for the second time. (he also brings back The Rook's lead Myfanwy rhymes with Tiffany in a central role, plus a nifty cameo from her deadly American bestie.) the only issue I had with this relationship was that O'Malley - far from a subtle writer - telegraphs each slow movement towards friendship with a very heavy hand. we get it, O'Malley! they are beginning to like each other, to see the human being in one another, etc! no need for such grinding obviousness that practically makes each point in all-caps.

but... page turner, page turner! on my way to Italy to meet my high school friends for our soon-to-be-wonderful vacation, I was stuck for 10 hours in Schipol airport, and this book helped me keep my sanity! Schipol is a humid, sweaty place and the smoking lounge is like a little slice of hell but being glued to this book made the experience not so horrible! this is a good book to take you right out of your head and into a whole new place! when I got to Italy, I described it to one of my friends and a hungry look came into her eyes the likes I haven't seen since prom night - I surrendered it to her immediately!