Freefall by Laura Anne Gilman

Guinevere, or Wren, Valere is a retriever, considered the best at what she does. She is also a talent, or a mage, able to use electricity or current, to do things that others would consider impossible. Once Wren was a Lonejack, one of the talented who pretty much stayed to themselves and didn't interact much with others. Her partner, a Null, or normal human who was her agent and sought out jobs for her named Sergei Didier, was the only one besides other Lonejacks who knew what she was and what she could do.

She even ran some jobs for the organization that Sergei worked for, known as the Silence. The Silence was formed to protect normal humans from the monsters and magical things that stalked the earth and brought about harm to humans, both knowingly and unwittingly. But in the time since its founding, the mission of the Silence has changed. From protecting humans, to wiping the magical races, known as the Fatae, off the face of the earth forever.

They would also like to wipe out the use of magic, and it is both of these things which made both Wren and Sergei refuse to work with the Silence any longer. Neither Wren nor any of the other Lonejacks could stand by and watch while the magical races were wiped out. Yes, some of them are inimical to humans, but that's no excuse for genocide! So the Lonejacks and some of the Fatae came together to form the Cosa Nostradamus, with the aim of defending their own and the innocent Fatae from the goons of the Silence.

Tensions mounted on both sides, and culminated in a battle on Brooklyn Bridge. It also broke the collective disbelief of the Nulls in the city that made it so they couldn't see the Fatae in their midst. Another consequence was the breakup of Wren and Sergei, who had become lovers. Another factor in their breakup was his being addicted to the current in her body that she released in small doses when they made love. He lost her trust, and it was worse when he appeared to be supporting the Silence during the Battle of the Bridge. She told him she didn't want to see him ever again.

Now Wren is letting P.B., a demon Fatae who looks like a miniature Polar Bear (hence his name) stay with her. Normally, he'd live on the streets, but with the persecution of the Fatae by Silence goons, he isn't safe any more. He's also pushing her to redecorate her apartment, or decorate, since she hasn't actually done anything since she moved into the place. Even though it's dangerous, Wren has been taking jobs, since she isn't the type who can relax and sit still and not do anything.

But this time, she runs into problems. The job is a trap, and a bunch of Silence goons attack her with the intent to kill her. But after they capture her, one of them decides to rape her, having heard that the jolts of current will be the best orgasm he's ever had. But Wren, pushed to the limit, reaches down inside herself for current to punish the men holding her before they can rape her, she goes too far and touches the old magic that Lonejacks had stopped working with because it was simply far too dangerous. It's also overkill, and instead of zapping them unconscious, she incinerates them.

Gagging, she returns home, and pushed by the almost-rape, she decides to deal with the silence once and for all. But she won't do it by fighting them directly, no. She'll hit them where it hurts and help the lonejacks at the same time: she'll do a retrieval job and retrieve the children that the Silence recruited to become their Focussed Agents, or FocA's. All of the children have talent, but with the current feelings of the Silence for the Talented, they aren't likely to be kept alive much longer.

But even as Wren plans her retrieval and counts on the help of other Lonejacks and even Sergei, her former partner, the Silence isn't sitting on their Laurels. They are planning something big... to take out all the Fatae and Lonejacks living and working in New York City, But first the current leader of the Silence, Duncan, means to take out Andre, Sergei's old boss, who doesn't have such a virulent hatred towards Fatae and wants to return the Silence to its old mission of protecting humanity without completely annihilating the Fatae.

Wren, too, is having problems. Ever since she killed the thugs who were going to rape her, she's known something is terribly wrong with her. She no longer feels like herself, and the current inside her that she sees as snakes doesn't look right. But she's deliberately shut her eyes to the knowledge, hoping ignoring it will make it go away. She's been grumpy and irritable, and no longer cares if she hurts those who work for the Silence.

As the Silence shuts down the Electric Grid to deprive the Talented of their current, Wren takes off on her retrieval without notifying anyone, even P.B.. She's going to retrieve the FocA's even if she has to die in the process... as The Silence is attacking and killing Fatae and Talented all over the city. Can Wren and her friends defeat the Silence without losing everything they have been fighting for? And when Wren realizes she has become Wizzed, or gone crazy from the current, how can she fight her way back to normalcy when no other Talent who's been wizzed has ever returned to their normal self?

This book rocked my world. So far, I've loved every single book in the series, and this one is no exception. Here, Wren is done with the kid gloves. They are off, and the Silence only have themselves to blame, as Wren's escalation of force in dealing with them follows their escalation against the Fatae, the other Talents, and her.

But she isn't the only one to realize that the situation with the Silence is reaching a tipping point where people must decide to fish or cut bait. Sergei, P.B., Andre and the other Talents and Fatae in the city must also decide if they are going to stand against the Silence or let themselves be destroyed, even the most innocent and gentle ones. Of course, the Null humans who are somewhat aware of the situation can't stand by the guidelines and do nothing either. Those being attacked are their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers. It's time for everyone to stand together or fall separately, and how the scattered Lonejacks and Fatae finally come together to fight for their lives, freedom and beliefs is heartening to read.

It was also nice to see Wren and Sergei get back together... finally. Wren may be a crackerjack Retriever and a kleptomaniac, but she can also be stunningly stiff-necked and unwilling to apologize. It may be needed information that gets her to contact Sergei again, but once they are finally interacting again, they quickly fall back into their former relationship, both personal and professional, and their interactions are a delight to read, as both are extremely intelligent and good at what they do.

Now that the Silence is (mostly?) dealt with, it will be interesting to see what is next on the plate for Wren and Sergei, and how their world changes with regard to the Fatae and Wren herself, who handled a staggering amount of current and may be too close to a Pure for her fellow Lonejacks. But we'll see. I'll surely be along for the ride!