Memory

This story is a slowly-unfolding mystery taking place mostly on the planet of Barrayar, as our hero Miles tries to come to terms with being fired (which he knows he deserved) and also tries to understand why, soon afterwards, his very capable former boss suddenly has mental problems.

It's not at all clear for some time where the story is going, but in the end the purpose of it is basically to force Miles out of his previous career and settle him into a new and different one; and this is well accomplished.

As usual with a Bujold novel, the ending is more upbeat than the rest of it; but I find the rest of the story gripping and not depressing, despite Miles being very worried and unsure of himself, and several other characters also having a hard time.

I've seen someone describe this book as a “bad mystery”, because readers may be able to guess the identity of the villain before anyone in the story does. But I don't think that's the point. The author was trying to write a novel, not a guess-the-villain puzzle; if you want that kind of puzzle, look elsewhere. The identity of the villain is supposed to be a puzzle for the characters in the story, not so much for the reader. Whenever I reread a book, I usually remember the identity of the villain; and I reckon to reread good books over and over again, because I enjoy them.