The second book in the Takeshi Kovacs series, and not nearly as good as the first book. Whereas the first book was a detective novel in an SF universe, this is more standard military SF, which I find much less interesting. The book is also not nearly as well crafted at the first book, and the MESSAGE is kind of ponderous. The action is still well-written and it held my interest all the way through. Wish it had been better.