More precisely, Kirkus Reviews said The Mark of the Spider is:

An engaging thriller that successfully explores the implications of a wicked curse.

The way I parse that, The Mark of the Spider is not just engaging, but thrilling, successful and wicked.

And I’m pretty sure that line violates the Kirkus excerpting policies.

To avoid an encounter with the Excerpting Police, I send you to the entire review on the Kirkus Reviews Web site.

For those not familiar with Kirkus, it is an “American book review magazine” founded in 1933. In 2005, it allowed Indie authors to purchase a review meeting all their standard review criteria. There is no guarantee the reviewer will like the book. And there are no refunds.

So I’ll take “engaging” any day.

If you haven’t engaged with The Mark of the Spider yet, hie yourself over to Amazon and pick up an ebook or trade print edition. If you order the print version, you get the ebook free. What an “engaging” deal.