Hmmm... Main characters laying low and the story coming to a grinding halt in the middle of the noovel remindss me a bit of the last Harry Potter book. Yes, I know it isn't literature, and she couldn't write her way out of a paper bag, but it might be an interesting book to have a look at to get ideas as to what works and what doesn't in that kind of situation.

And, considering the fact that I'm halfway through my first novel, I see that I have a lot of suffering still to come!