Wow a moment in a book the author can "show just how evil the bad guy is" and... doesn't take it. Really refreshing to see. We get to see how evil the big bad is in other, better ways.
Also David is still turning out to be OK. Our hero is also being smart. Though she has got that whole "I just can't kill anything" going on. It wasn't produced as inanely as I've seen it before and she does hit the guy.