There is absolutely no way to describe this book. It was crazy, exciting and "mind" blowing. You think you have predicted what is going to happen (I thought I was so smart) and then the author throws you yet another curve ball.

The bad guys act in ways you expect until you don't know who the bad guys are any more. The "heroine", Justine, a hypochondriac, who uses her health fears to paralyze other people as part of a psychological hit squad, goes from very predictable to down right "I can't believe she just did that".

As I said, there is not much you can write about this book since the story itself is so unusual. The most important part is that it is amazing to read.

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The book opens with Justine at dinner with Cubby, her boyfriend. She is obsessing over a man named Ben Foley, whom she's had a dire run in with in the past and who is currently sitting with a couple across the restaurant. She wants to warn this couple how shady and disastrous this man can be to their life, and she works up the nerve to do so. But not before she has a full-blown anxiety attack. Yes, Justine has a flaw: she is a severe, anxiety-ridden hypochondriac! She's a mental mess! In fact, Crane writes her hypochondriasis so well that you start to wonder whether Crane is a hypochondriac herself. Great writing!

After Justine confronts the scumbag and warns the couple, the restaurant's owner walks up up to her and apologizes for the scumbag's retorts. He also offers Justine an odd proposition: "I want to talk about what I can do for you, and what you can do for me. I'm the one who can cure you..." Justine can't easily walk away from this one, so after an odd run in with "the couple," she ends up back at the restaurant for some serious discussion about this so-called cure with the owner, Packard.

Packard offers her a grand solution to her hypochondriasis: push that horrific, debilitating anxiety off on someone else! Yes, Packard can teach her how to invade another's energy dimension and feed her fears into their emotional space. Obviously, Packard isn't talking about dousing anybody off the streets with intense, erratic emotions that aren't theirs. No, Packard has a list of criminals who need to be disillusioned from their world of crime in order to become wholesome once more. Packard has created a gang of people, like Justine, who can make that happen.


Justine is thrown into this crazy world of evil humans and more evil highcaps, or high-capacity humans. These individual's power grow out their personality as a baby and its a mutation that heightens brain power. Think telekinesis, telepathy, dream invader, memory revisionist, etc. Justine finds herself on a roller coaster ride of events after she agrees to join Packard's gang, and you never really can tell what's going to happen next.

Conclusion: 5/5 Stars! Woohoo! This book is one wild ride and a wildly refreshing concept for the Urban Fantasy genre! Kudos to Crane for creating a heroine who uses her mind instead of her martial arts skills (although I do love that type of heroine too!) The world that Crane has created is quite different from your typical urban fantasy novel. There are no creatures of the night, just high-capacity humans with a little extra pep in their step. And I find it difficult to read the characters in this book - you don't know who the hell to trust! It's a psychological thriller/mystery!

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I'm very conflicted about my opinion of this book. Did I like it? Did I hate it? I just can't tell; it seems like a bit of both. That's why I went straight down the middle with my rating.

On one hand I really liked how different this book is. I can't think of another book I've read that similar to this, so kudos to the author for originality. I was a bit confused in the beginning about high caps and vein star syndrome and was waiting for the author to explain what exactly was going on. I did, however, kind of like (though I found it frustrating) that the author didn't info dump right in the beginning and let us find out what this world was like as it came up in conversation. On the other hand, I had a real problem with Justine. I constantly found myself wishing that I could reach through the pages and strangle her. Why are you doing these things? You have horrible decision making skills! Ugh!

We meet Justine, who is a hypochondriac, while she's in a relationship with Cubby. He's everything normal she wishes she could be. There comes a moment in the book when Packard gives Justine a very unwanted reality check about her relationship with Cubby. I found every word true and I wish Justine would have eventually realized how right he was. I just have to mention something that really bothered me. I hate the name Cubby. I know it's just a nickname, but it really bothered me. I also didn't like how the story was written in first person present tense. That was weird and kept jarring me out of the story.

Justine becomes involved with Packard and his group of disillusionists and feels like she has finally found a group of friends that she really fits in with. Even though she doesn't get along with all of them equally well she understands them because on the inside they're just as messed up as she is. I liked the look we had at all the other disillusionists. I felt that we didn't really get much depth to them and wanted to know more about them.

As Justine becomes more involved she questions whether they are doing the right thing or not. As she is confronted with a criminal from her past she will have to face some tough questions. Is he the same man? Is what they did to him immoral? Are they now criminals because of their very conduct? Is Packard getting anything else out of this? I found these questions fascinating and wish we got more answers. I'm interested in seeing how it all unfolds in the rest of the trilogy.

I really liked the interaction that Justine and Packard have throughout the book. They fall into a friendship that I wish we were shown more of instead of being told about it. They also have some really nice chemistry together. Unfortunately in the back of my mind her supposed commitment to Cubby always lurked and I couldn't help but be skeezed out by her actions and her justifications for them. I didn't really blame Packard because she left the door open for him and he wasn't the one who was in a relationship with someone.

Packard was my favorite character of the whole story. He's manipulative and out for himself, but he's fascinating while he does it. I can't really blame him for seizing the opportunity presented to him for escape. On the other hand I can't really blame Justine for feeling betrayed by it and no longer wanting to be friends. I do however think she overreacted and was irritated by her refusal to listen to him. I'm not surprised that he would do anything to be free. I felt so bad for him when Justine had something happen to her by one of their marks and he couldn't go to her to see if she was ok. She didn't care enough to return his call and so he was stuck there waiting until she decided to come to him. What kind of hell that would be!

The end of this book was a huge problem for me. That's when I really started to dislike Justine. The decisions she makes and the fact that she's willing to risk all the friends she feels she fits in so well with... I just couldn't respect her. Throughout the book I felt that she was "me, me, me" but at the end she practically screamed it. She put her wants above the safety of her friends and based all this surety in her rightness off of what? I felt so bad when Packard found out that she went to that level with that guy. I'll read the next book because it's a fascinating story, but I really hope that I can find something to like about Justine before it grows too tedious to be in her head.

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This book takes place in the near future, where there are people called highcaps. They're like Marvel's "mutants" and there are few of them. The heroine of this book, Justine, happens to dine at a restaurant and where one is trapped. This is Packard, a man who she is attracted to. He has the power to see into people, their potential and gauge their powers. Packard is trapped in the restaurant by another highcap and he keeps a team of people called dis-illusionists. Justine is convinced to join the team of dis-illusionists so she can have some sanity for her crippling hypochondria. The team includes a gambler, a fighter, a drinker and others. Their crazy problems give them a sort of half-power where they can touch a person and dump their neurosis onto them, and thus cripple their mind. So Justine and the others are assigned to dis-illusion certain targets dependent upon their "gifts" as deemed by highcap Packard. While solving the mystery of who locked Packard into the restaurant, Justine is assigned to dis-illusion Police Chief Otto Sanchez who she finds out is the also hugely powerful highcap who trapped Packard!

While I have summed up the plot much better than the misleading back-of-the book summary without spoiling it for you... I must say I didn't really enjoy the book. It was boring in many parts while you had to read about Justine's neurotic musings about diseases and syndromes. She always appeared very shallow throughout the book. The action was nonexistent, there where some suspenseful parts wondering what might happen in situations (don't want to spoil the plot here). I found the mystery of who had locked up Packard and why much more interesting than Justine's hypochondria-lead flightiness. If you want a book about a nutty girl finding strength in suspenseful situations, then this book is for you. If you were looking for a mental-powers action packed thriller with adventure, move on.

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Oh my...

First of all I adored this book. I loved all of the neurotic characters. It really felt like I was IN the book, rather than just reading it. I could actually feel the tension.

I like the idea of disillusioning criminals so that they reform on their own. Its clever and original, especially in the dense forest of Urban Fantasy/PNR plots.

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I loved it. It was engaging and unique with great characters & intriguing plot in such an interesting world.

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This is the first book in The Disillusionist Trilogy by Carolyn Crane. The premise to this book just sounded so interesting I had to give it a read. I am glad I did, there are some very creative and interesting things in this book and it is looking to be an interesting series.

Justine is a hypochondriac, and she has it bad. She is constantly convinced she is dying, constantly in the emergency room, and constantly driving her loved ones away because of her fears. She has a great boyfriend named Cubby and she is trying to make this work...the problem is that her hypochondria is getting worse and if it keeps getting worse then she may be institutionalized. Enter Packard, he is a redcap that can detect people's psychic compatibility. He can "see" Justine's problem and has a solution for her; she can get rid of her fears by using it as a weapon. She can thrust her medical fears into criminals, causing them to destabilize and become disillusioned. Packard's got a team of Disillusionists set up and he wants Justine to be part of it; after trying it out and being fear free Justine is tempted to take Packard up on the offer...the problem is there is a lot more going on with Packard and his Disllusionists than Justine is originally led to believe.

The big thing this book has going for it is creativity. This is an absolutely unbelievably creative idea and the storyline is unlike anything I have ever read about before. I mean the idea of using phobias, obsessions, etc as a weapon by thrusting them into criminals is interesting and clever. Crane does an excellent job bringing this idea into play. What is really masterful is that beyond the Disillusioning that the characters do to criminals, Justine finds herself wrapped up in a Mind game of a different type. This book ends up with a plot that is layers over layers of mind games and it is very clever.

The characters are interesting too. All of them have weird psychosis they are dealing with, so the conversations between the Disllusionists are pretty darn funny. I mean when you get a hypochondriac, an obsessive gambler, a person cursed with ennui, someone convinced that world conspiracies are always in play, and someone chronically depressed together in a room...it sounds like a bad joke...and to be honest it is hilarious at times. All of the characters have some depth and are in general interesting and pretty likable.

The book was easy to read and well-written. There wasn't anything spectacular about the writing style, but it sounded natural and was a good, quick read. The main story presented in this story is wrapped up well and some threads left open for the next installment.

There were a couple things that I didn't like about the book. For one none of the characters really grabbed me as a reader, I had trouble relating with them and really getting involved with them. Justine was a bit...well...skanky for my tastes. She immediately thought every guy she meet was delicious and yummy and she wasn't shy about giving the guys a piece of the action. Then she complained a lot about trying to be faithful to her boyfriend. I personally like my heroines a bit more honest...I mean if they are skanks that's fine but at least don't make them complain about how they can't help being skanky all of the time.

Overall this was a great new series. It is incredibly interesting and creative, the plot was masterfully woven. I thought the characters left something to be desired and had trouble relating to Justine's character. Given that I will still definitely be reading the next book in the series because it was just too interesting of a book...I have to see what happens next.

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