The parallels between John’s domestic situation on Earth, told through flashbacks, provided an interesting counterpoint to his experience for caring for an alien brood. But overall, the story didn’t quite delight me—mostly, because the ending was obvious from the first page, and the development of the story didn’t offer any interesting turns along the way. Additionally, John was so thoroughly unlikable that his ultimate fate left me indifferent. The "bad guy gets his just dessert" rarely works for me for that very reason. And finally, the aliens themselves, while presumably insectoid, behaved in a disappointingly human fashion, even featuring human anatomy at times (eyelids and erections, for example.)

"Burn Rate" by Phill Jones has an interesting premise.  Thad, the detective protagonist, is a "ghoul" (he is affected by a birth defect that causes him to have a higher metabolic rate than normal humans.) However, the story itself is a rather routine police procedural, taking place in a futuristic world. It is a pretty good story, but I wished more were done with Thad’s condition. Throughout the tale, he tries to play by the rules and takes pills that keep his metabolic rate normal—and unfortunately he stays that way. Although he agonizes about his nature and envies a fellow ghoul, Amanda, who embraces her high metabolism and heightened abilities that come with it, he never makes the leap. As he investigates a series of murders, the events unfold at a good clip, although rather predictably. However, crucial conversations and scenes are frequently interrupted by authorial asides, often extraneous to the story. The characters left much to be desired—even Thad, in whose head the reader spends a fair amount of time, seems little more than his angst and desire to fit in. Amanda was perhaps the most compelling character, and she didn’t get much onstage time. Fans of futuristic mysteries will probably like this one.