The Demon in Business Class 

by Anthony Dobranski 

1 out of 5 

Synopsis 

She can speak all languages. He can smell evil intent.

They're enemies. They crave each other.

With international settings, a conspiracy plot, star-crossed lovers, and sharp writing, The Demon in Business Class is a stunning debut novel spanning continents and genres.

Zarabeth travels the world for a shady executive, laying the groundwork for global war.

Gabriel offers a second chance to the criminals that a visionary leader sees in dreams.

One rainy night in Scotland, they meet...

Now, it's complicated.

There's also the investigator, the witch, the playboy, the gangster, the cultist, the pre-school teacher, the two angels…

And, the demon.

The Demon in Business Class is an tense, stylish, international story of fantasy, intrigue, and love, on the uneasy ground where the human meets the divine.

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Review 

Zarabeth and Gabriel are both part of the paranormal world, but find themselves on opposite sides.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. (I was given an ARC copy, so there may be some differences from the published version)

Zarabeth has a subtle form of magic that she doesn't really control. She's very good at reading people, and manipulating them, so she gets what she wants. This includes a high-flying corporate job, despite having no qualifications.

Her magical skills come to the attention of Magda, who hires her for some potentially-shady work with international companies.

Gabriel can literally smell people's intentions. His demand for justice has driven him to make mistakes in the past, but he's finally onto the right track, after finding people with similar skills.

I liked the various magics that appeared in this book. It has recognisable spells and witches, that feel familiar. It also has its own spin on magic, with Zarabeth's chaos and Gabriel's sense-driven skills.

I also liked the way they were woven into the real world, almost like a secret society.

The not-so-good.

I could not get into this book at all. The writing made no sense. The words were all English, but I have absolutely no clue what is going on.

You know when you have those lucid dreams, where everyone talks nonsense, and you're the only one who doesn't understand, but you have to complete a serious mission anyway...

An example, when a couple of the characters go out for dinner, and witch Missy is explaining her education to a non-witch guy:

"Cultural anthropology," Missy said. "Celtic and Pagan religious traditions." Her stock answer but tonight it sounded embarrassingly weak. Ridiculous. To tell her truth to a man she'd known for an hour was crazy, a wetness not lube but nervous pee.

He had no idea...

I have no idea. The whole text is like this, just a random assortment of words, where I often couldn't even guess at the author's meaning.

I don't know what the missions were for Zarabeth and Gabriel. They were both given no information, asked to do ridiculous, unassociated stuff, and we're supposed to be on the edge of our seats?

From what I gathered, Zarabeth's first mission was to give a gay guy a blow job, to uncover some very dull data-driven stuff?

I'm not entirely sure, as they were on drugs at the time, teamed with unclear narrative.

I gave this a few goes, and tried to skim read further ahead, but found no improvement.

It gave me a headache, and I have no interest in reading any more of the author's work.

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