This is one that will haunt me for a while! What starts out as an interesting and intriguing story and mystery turns into an all-encompassing and engulfing story with complex multidimensional characters. I can't say that there was anything PARTICULARLY surprising but only because the whole story was a surprise, and every paragraph left the reader/listener wondering what was going to come. There were no totally disappointing individuals, but they all fit together in an intriguing and compelling story! That it was a mystery was not overly evident in terms of it being a "murder mystery" or a "crime mystery" or anything specific like that, but the whole story and series of situations was a mystery. Upon finishing the book, I feel like a smiling, satisfied, cat.