Double Crossed and Done.
Warning: Mostly Spoilers!
At the end of Checkmate I thought I wasn't ready to let go of these characters. By 'these characters' I meant Sephy and Callie Rose. I did not mean 'in the next book, shoot Callie Rose and leave her out of the whole thing so her boyfriend or whatever he calls himself can go on a crazy rampage which leaves five people dead and him simmering with regret and remorse and thinking he can't go back to Callie now'. That is definitely not what I wanted or expected.
Tobey Durbridge should must definitely be called Tobey Durbrain. Never has an insult used in a book described a character better. This guy is an idiot. He did what he wanted to do (even though I thought he was an idiot for it) - he got rid of McAuley. Now what? Cry about it. Not go back to the girl you did it for and instead treat her like shit. And now Owen Dowd on the other side is in charge and wow are things going to be that much different? Probably not. Well done, you made no difference whatsoever but at least you got your revenge, right?
As much as Mr. Durbrain's actions annoyed me, I still - sigh - enjoyed Malorie Blackman's writing and the world she had created. I do wish however there was more emphasis on the Noughts vs Crosses thing we got from the other books, rather than the gang warfare which didn't interest me as much. I also no longer feel the need for another book, not because I have closure but more because I don't want them to get any worse. 3.5 stars, barely
2