A Sense of Danger

Imagine the present world, but one in which magic users (think X-Men type of powers) walk among ordinary humans. Section 47 is a secret government agency which is tasked with stopping magical terrorists and criminals. Section 47 employs a whole raft of people with special skills to help in their mission, the elite of whom are termed the Cleaners, and are magically enhanced assassins. There are also analysts, Charmers (who lure criminals into honeytraps etc) and liaisons (who act as personal assistants to Cleaners). Oh, and there's an inherent snobbery about people who's family also worked for Section 47 - they are Legacies and are perceived to be treated better than the others. Charlotte Locke may be a Legacy, but her legacy (from her father and grandmother) is tarnished by the botched job which ended her father's life. While he was a Cleaner, she is an analyst, like her grandmother, and her magical skill is the ability to spot what is wrong with something - day-to-day she uses it to spot the mistakes and fake entries in bank accounts to trace terrorist funds etc, but it also allows her to spot when people are lying and sense danger. Charlotte's supervisors have consistently overlooked her and either ignored her findings or stolen them and presented them as their own, she's used to it now and keeps her head down. Because she had to borrow money to pay the ransom for her father from the botched job in South America, and then her grandmother's cancer treatment, Charlotte is seriously in debt and works nights at a nearby diner. One day Charlotte and her friend Miriam are sitting having lunch in the Section 47 canteen when she spots a new cleaner. Surprisingly the new cleaner tries to chat her up and asks her to dinner, something which she shuts down quickly, you'd rather eat dinner with a cobra. The new cleaner is Desmond Percy, a transfer from Australia, while ostensibly he's in the US to help track down Henrika Hyde, a rich and powerful paranormal who is using her pharmaceutical business to develop biomagical weapons, he has a secret mission - one which involves Charlotte's work. At first Charlotte is afraid that Des is here to kill her, but after he saves her from an attack by four cleaners she's not so sure - now they must work together to stop Henrika Hyde. I have always found Jennifer Estep a writer of complex books, which is a fancy way of saying I don't always understand what is going on. Her heroines are always more clever and wily than me and see about 100 moves ahead. However, very early on I correctly called the mole in Section 47, both based on a hunch but also based on a clue. Overall, I enjoyed it. It was high-octane detective work with a magical twist.

A SENSE OF DANGER is the first instalment in Jennifer Estep’s contemporary, adult SECTION 47 paranormal, urban fantasy series focusing on paramortal analyst / diner waitress for Section 47 Charlotte Locke, and assassin/cleaner Desmond Percy. SOME BACKGROUND: Paramortals make up approximately one percent of the world’s population, and most have hidden their magic from the ‘mortal’ world. Section 47 is a paramortal spy organization whose mission was to gather intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks but found themselves tracking those who use magic to commit their crimes. Told from dual first person perspectives (Charlotte and Desmond) A SENSE OF DANGER focuses on the take down of a paramortal bio-terrorist, and the search for a mole within Section 47. Charlotte Locke is a legacy member at Section 47, meaning her father, and grandmother were previously employed by Section 47. As an analyst Charlotte has the ability to read patterns and numbers and sense danger but as a human lie detector Charlotte knows when someone may or may not be telling the truth. Upon the death of her boss, Charlotte is reassigned as a liason, working with the Section’s latest arrival, cleaner and assassin Desmond Percy, whose own father continues to make a name for himself at Section 47. Desmond is on the hunt for a paramortal bio-terrorist but his every move is met with counter terrorism and resistance such that his last mission left him struggling to survive. With the help of Charlotte Locke, Desmond is hunting down the person responsible but struggles to trust the woman with whom he is falling in love as Charlotte’s secrets run dangerous and dark. What ensues is the set up and take down of a mole within the Section 47 organization, and the potential fall-out as Desmond believes Charlotte has been compromised but Charlotte has bigger plans when all is revealed. Jennifer Estep introduces a number of players in the world of Section 47 including some of the backstory and history of Charlotte’s legacy connections, and Desmond’s father General Jethro Percy. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters giving the series a familiarity not unlike the author’s Elemental Assassin. We are introduced to cleaner supervisor Gia Chan, and ‘secretary’ Evelyn Hawkes, former Section 47 spy Gabriel Chase, as well as charmer Miriam Lancaster, charmer supervisor Trevor Donnelly, Russian paramortal Adrian Anatoly, and CEO and founder of Hyde Engineering Henrika Hyde. A SENSE OF DANGER is a fast paced, intriguing, action packed story of betrayal and vengeance, power and magic, obsession, murder, greed and excess. The premise is captivating and compelling; the characters are energetic and enterprising; the romance is seductive and passionate.

Brilliant! I was hooked from page 1 and it just kept getting better en kept me guessing. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters! Definitely a must read.