I thought that the book started out slow, but I hope it will gradually get better with perhaps more action and character development. The father seems more of a mystery figure if anything and a bit of a control freak, however this would make sense if he was a high ranking officer in the military. The mother seems to be a caring woman with a little bit of a temper occasionally. I do wonder if they will ever reveal why Gretel is a "Hopeless case" as they say in the book. I over all thought that the book so far is quite descriptive and interesting ~Chandra