“You wish to be free, but there is no such thing as freedom. You can redecorate dungeon to give illusion of freedom, but you are still in dungeon.”
“I should’ve had the choice.”
“Choice is illusion, same as happiness and freedom.”
As a hypochondriac with extreme levels of health fears, Justine makes for an unlikely crime fighter, but that’s exactly what she is. Together with a ragtag bunch of men and women she uses her irrational fears for good, by psychically zinging them into bad people so they can be broken down and rebooted.
Her life is complicated by the two men in her life. Packard is a crime boss, he’s mercenary and unscrupulous. He has an agenda, and uses his band of disillusionists to achieve that end. Otto is the exact opposite to Packard. As the chief of police and a psychic with the ability to create force fields, he is able to imprison criminal highcaps who can not be held in any conventional prison, using the power of his mind. But is it moral to imprison people for life without a trial?
Book 
1: Mind Games
Justine is recruited by Packard into his group of Disillusionists. Teamed up with Simon, a disillusionist who can zing his own reckless behavior into others, and Shelby, who can zing people with her bleak view of the future, she struggles with her first mission to disillusion a woman who brutally murdered her husband.
She soon discovers that Packard has another agenda and that she is a crucial part of his plan to destabilize one of Midcity’s most prominent crime fighters. A man she idolizes.
Book 2: Double Cross
Justine has managed to get Packard his freedom, on the condition they disillusion the Highcap criminals Otto has imprisoned around the city. One such woman is a dream invader named Ezmerelda. After Justine accidentally touches her, Ez gains access to both her’s and Packard’s dreams. But despite a shocking crime-wave in which the sleep walking criminals bite their victims, Justine can’t help but think Ez is the victim of a frame-up.
Added to this, a group of killers is targeting highcaps, and the trail leads back to a conspiracy theorist. A man who could be Shelby’s perfect match.
Book 3: Head Rush
Justine is getting married to the man of her dreams, Otto. But she can’t seem to get Packard out of her mind, and with every one in the city gunning for him, why is he still hanging around.
The city is under martial law, crime is rampant and Otto is keeping secrets from Justine. In the end the fate of all her friends are in her hands, but can she find the courage to make the ultimate sacrifice for them.
The Disillusionists series is great urban fantasy. Quirky and funny, but also plenty of action. These books flow well and are entertaining from start to finish.
Fashion magazine disease articles. My personal Kryptonite.
At the age of 14 both Holly and Elijah suffered mental breakdowns. They have been on medication ever since. But when they are forced off their meds by a delayed shipment, they realise their delusions might not have been delusions at all.
(Disclosure: Rebecca Espinoza is a Goodreads friend of mine. Because I have that relationship with her I was a bit nervous about reading this, her debut novel and I read it quietly and without telling anyone.)
Gin Blanco (the Spider) returns in this the 8th instalment in Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series.
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