Much better than the second - some of my favorite characters from the first book came back and the Pagans are brilliantly characterized and very believable. The atmosphere of their doomed church and house, of damp and desperate optimism, was also converted very effectively and there was a nice meaty mystery with lots of diligently researched folklore thrown in. It loses one star because like the last book it also has a rather icky sex angle, which I really hope isn't going to become a theme for the series.