This novel is certainly not what Harry Potter fans would be expecting. One gets the impression that Rowling has done her damnedest to move from fantasy to a hyper real world where the reader is not spared any of the tragedies of the life of real British teenagers, who in this story, do not have Hagrid or Dumbledore to save them. The characters are well drawn, the wit sharp and ruthless, the suspense picks up after the first quarter of the book when for two nights running I found myself unable to put it down, whilst knowing that there was a good chance of tormented dreams after reading about the tragic lives of several of the teenage characters. Definitely not light hearted but also recommended. I think it is extraordinarily difficult for an author like Rowling to release a novel into the public sphere which is in no way similar to her many much loved novels without it being strongly judged. Still a great novel though, just set aside any hopes for a Potter encore.