Maybe it deserves 4 stars but something about the ending stopped me from giving it the 4 I was intending. Goon Squad did a better job of interweaving independent characters in what I now call the Egan way. What makes Egan's books better than others of its ilk is the non-cliche internal lives of her characters. She invents their psychology without the help of those who do it professionally and, at least from the standpoint of fiction, she does it better. It's more immediate and mostly believable.