STAYING DEAD: The Retrievers Book 1 - Laura Anne Gilman

From the back of the book: It starts as a simple job--but simple jobs, when you're dealing with the magical world, often end of anything but.

As a Retriever, Wren Valere specializes in finding things gone missing--and then bringing them back, no questions asked. Normally her job is stimulating, challenging and only a little bit dangerous. But every once in a while....

Case in point: A cornerstone containing a spell is stolen and there's a magical complication. (Isn't there always?) Wren's unique abilities aren't enough to lay this particular case to rest, so she turns to some friends: a demon (minor), mage who has lost his mind, and a few others, including Sergei, her business partner (and maybe a bit more?).

Sometimes what a woman has to do to get the job done is enough to give even Wren nightmares.....

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My buddy, Amy on Shelfari's Paranormal Mysteries, suggested I read this one ASAP when she heard I had it on Mt Git'r'Read. So...I did! I'd been looking for a quick reading story and this did the trick. I also wanted a title for What's in a Name Challenge 2 for the Medical Condition section. Ta-Da! I'd think 'staying dead' is the ultimate medical condition...anyway...

I really enjoyed reading this one, even if I had some difficulties keeping up with dialogue or changes in scenery and characters from time to time. I blame it on the reader rather than the writer as I was on a different shift and wasn't always as alert as I'd have liked for reading the adventures of Wren and Sergei. Wren, the Talent, kicks ass, Sergei, the Null, is a sweetie with 'tude and the two of them make a perfect partnership. 'Talent' is what the people with magical abilities are called and 'Null' is the non-magical.

There's a lot of politics going on throughout the book: there's the Council who tries to run the Talent to their way of doing business and there's the Silence and not much is known of them, but both the Council and the Silence want Wren and Sergei brought to heel and work for them than on their own.

And there's the growing unrest among Wren's friends and fellow magical creatures, human and nonhuman alike.

I'm very glad I finally read this from Mt Git'r'Read and happy that it is a beginning of a series.

Four kick-ass Talent and Null beans.....