Thanks, it's good to know I am not alone

Yeah, it was an interesting prologue, but that one thing made me less inclined to read the whole book. Where's the originality?

You don't have to convince me, i'm just pointing out the likely culprit for that idea in the first place.

Fair enough. Still, word of wisdom to anyone, never underestimate Lara Raith. 

I think Arjan has something there. Even Sharkface was reluctant to enter Mac's Pub. Call it what you will, but Mac's has always been a Safe Haven, up until the time Mac was kidnapped.

That's like declaring war on Switzerland by kidnapping Simonetta Sommaruga.

There is no such WOJ as yet.  It is a commonly presented theory, based on the master/apprentice lineage that McCoy has leading directly to the original Merlin, but that is the only thing hinting at such a relationship, and it's requires that either all such magical lineages are kept to blood relations (unlikely), or B) McCoy's family, specifically, prefers to keep it in the Family and also keep that fact secret.

I saw a mention of one in a Reddit thread and I was understandably skeptical. Figured it couldn't hurt to check it out.

More than that, it shows the reader just how calm and collected Justine is when dealing with a life and death situation.  I'd have to reread Even Hand; the short story told from Marcone's perspective, but I recall Justine being equally in control of her emotions and taking carefully calculated risks.  Her rational decision making process was functioning at a high order.

We learned that Justine was smart and knew how to play hard ball in Grave Peril, but even though she successfully blackmailed Harry into helping Thomas at Bianca's party, she was addicted to Thomas and was on an emotional roller coaster from hell when Thomas wasn't around.

Now Justine is as cool and collected as Emma Peel.  Why?  In White Night Justine ascribes her newly found emotional balance to medication, but in Grave Peril she told Harry the med's made her sick.  She could be using a new medication or she could be hiding something.  Hiding something is the more interesting and entertaining possibility, so that's what I'm choosing to believe.

From an author's perspective, having Justine the way she was in GP was an interesting twist, but ultimately made her useless as a long term character. A simple explanation of "better meds" allows JB to keep her available as needed and place her in a useful role as both informant and as Lara's right hand.

Ultimately, maybe in the next book, I hope we get a little more info on her background.

Meh, I don't think it outweighs putting the spotlight on the mystery surrounding Mac.  Shooting Thomas could have served the exact same purpose.

Thomas was already beat up pretty badly....though I think shooting him, if Mac wasn't there, coupled with what happened to Molly, would have raised the temperature of the situation much higher. Things would have worked out differently.

BTW - has it been resolved as to weather or not Mac owes Mab fro removing the bullet?

That's really chill Tami.  I just cached it in the DFRC theory index. as a WAG.

That made my day. Thanks.