1)          Believable and well develop characters - my number one criteria in any story. If you can't get into the skin of a character, it is not a story. At best, a travelogue through some dusty and stale imagination of the author. Borden is the classic good guy, without being encumbered by the stereotypical tropes. We never get a full picture of the man, but we sense, if not see, there is a depth to this guy.

2)          Tight "scripting" - c'mon. Without a story, there is no ... story. Jack weaves the story like a tight loom, a series of unfortunate circumstances tied by gold thread that escalate into the climax.

3)          Incredible pacing - This is a roller coast ride, with a very secure harness. You won't fall, but you never really believe you are safe.

4)          Action and reaction - Apologies to Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this is not one cliffhanger after another. There is plenty of action, and time to react. Jack uses the action/reaction device with the hands of an expert (and he has been doing this a while - you should read some of his steampunk stuff)

5)          Cliffhangers - I hate soap operas (ever read Peter Hamilton? Great writer, but when you end one novel of a multi-novel story with the line, "And the fleet closed in ... " - Sorry dude, you lost me). Shadows has its cliffhangers, and Jack uses them well. If there were no surprises in life, there would be no stories to tell. Jack's cliffhangers do what cliffhangers are supposed to do: excite the reader into reading more.

6)          Suspension of disbelief - The unreal must follow the rules of reality. A great writer once wrote, make one thing unreal but everything else stays real (or something like that). Jack offers an explanation for the unreal, but doesn't belabor it. It becomes real and the story moves on.

7)          Smarmy dark humor that evokes the classics, from Double Indemnity (my fav) to The Maltese Falcon - noir demands smarmy dark humor, and Jack delivers.