Both the Fridge and the Forge support their own conspiracy and both are often at odds with Eve and her crew.  A side bar story is Sue, who joined the crew in Chilling Effect, trying to find her cybernetic guru brother.   Between being involved in bot fights and synthetic creature creation, the crew supports each other.

Eve discovers her extra-species boyfriend, Vakar, is a Wraith, a CIA type for his species.   That does nothing to diminish their mutual affection.

Eve’s mother turns out to have more responsibilities with B.O.F.A., the united planets policing agency than Eve or Mari, her sister, ever expected.

This is a good series and I look forward to more books.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.