I am unsure why there are so many iterations of this novel. The premise is fair, but the actual writing is less than amateurish. It is poorly written, choppy, and disjointed. I have been forcing myself to read it hoping I will discover some hidden worth. I am half way through and if it says: "as above," one more time I will SCREAM! Does the author think I need to be told it is referring to a paragraph on the previous page? It is chock full of unnecessary hints of things to come "more on that later," "in due course". (I think this was written by a lawyer. Rather than say 'namely' or 'in regard to' we get "viz."--) I think I'll go read something by Dickens . . .