Josephine is a powerful eighty-year-old wizard, her aging slowed by her magic. Because of her power, the government insists she wear a restraint ring at all times, but when a serial killer begins attacking wizards her powers may be the best way to help. The only catch is that she doesn’t want to.

There is some excellent world-building, and the background to the culture is intriguing. For once there are very good reasons why powerful mages are distrusted and the government insists they register – and there’s a body count to prove it. The plot is complex but holds together with no holes that I spotted, and it kept me reading to the end. On the flip side, it is rather repetitive, and unfortunately predictable. I spotted the killer within a chapter of his first mention, and there are no really believable alternatives.

The characterisation varies. While we follow Josephine closely and only see people through her eyes I actually found the supporting cast more sympathetic. The detective may be getting annoyed with her and getting her up early, but he is trying to save lives. I find it very hard to be sympathetic to the lead, because she does come off as self-centered. She doesn’t just look younger than her age: she acts like a teenager. Josephine can be hard to like. She’s been asked to help catch a serial killer, and insists that her quiet retirement takes priority. Hiding out at her friends to avoid the police sounds cute, until you remember that the killer is killing a new victim nearly daily and she’s their best chance of catching them. I remain in hope that someone tells the victims’ families.

Her feud with the neighbour is probably supposed to be funny, but just came off as juvenile and in places extremely dangerous to any bystanders – another good reason for powerful wizards to be restrained. There are some darker undertones in this world, and an underlying debate in this world is similar to Marvel’s Civil War (the comics, not the film): how many casualties do you allow before oversight is required, and at what point does the oversight and constraints become worse than what they are stopping?

The writing is fluid and simple, with an easy-to-read style that kept me turning the pages. There were no grammar errors or significant typos to take me out of the story, although on my first read I did skip sections as they seemed slightly slow. On my second read for the review I went through everything, and I hadn’t actually missed anything critical.

I didn’t click with this book, and there other examples of paranormal fiction I prefer but YA readers might enjoy it. It is an interesting example of the paranormal genre, with an original and unique world.