A Touch of Treachery by Jennifer Estep – That’s What I’m Talking About…
Audiobook review: A Touch of Treachery by Jennifer Estep
A Touch of Treachery opens a few weeks after the conclusion of the previous adventure, Sugar Plum Spies, with Charlotte and Desmond undercover trying to lure villainous Henrika out into the open. When things go sideways, Section 47 Chairman General Percy, Desmond’s father, comes to the DC headquarters and gives Charlotte a dressing down. But when Henrika invites Charlotte to an exclusive auction for her deadly red burn formula, Percy has little choice but to send the pair into Henrika’s web.
The stakes are raised for Charlotte and Desmond in A Touch of Treachery. The story is extremely exciting; a can’t-put-it-down, edge of your seat kind of adventure. Like Charlotte, I was constantly trying to figure out Henrika’s plans and getting frustrated at being one step behind. The author does a great job of creating suspense, letting it build, and then giving readers something unexpected, or if it’s an expected result, I pumped my fist in satisfaction that I figured it out. Estep masterfully splits up Charlotte and Desmond’s point-of-views by ending each POV with the character in a compromising position or making a big discovery, and then quickly switching to the other MC’s POV.
I loved that A Touch of Treachery wraps up a few subplots, providing satisfaction that the overall story arc is progressing. I also like that Desmond and Charlotte have solidified their relationship and are working nearly seamlessly together. I love that there are a few different bad guys, each with various reasons why they are despicable, all with varying degrees of morality, and even a couple have redeeming qualities.
Narration: The story is shared in the alternating first person POVs of Charlotte and Desmond, with Laser taking the lead on Charlotte’s POVs and Black for Desmond. Overall, the story flows well and the narration is strong. Laser does a great job with Charlotte’s southern accent and seamlessly shifts to other dialects and accents during dialogue. She provides plenty of emotion and modulates her voice to suit a character’s gender, age, and persona.
Black has an Australian accent worthy of a Hemsworth. His voice is deep and sexy. He modifies his voice for gender, age, and dialect/accent to a satisfactory degree. However, often it feels like Black is telling me the story as it’s happening rather than me being in the story with him. He tends to keep his voice even. I don’t mean he’s monotone, but rather he doesn’t accelerate his speech when he’s excited or nervous. He doesn’t slow it down when he’s sad or upset. It’s a very constant cadence within a set parameter of tone. Not bad, just not as emotionally intense.
There are two bonus epilogues, each from a new POV. They are both very short, but there are two different narrators for the change in POVs. Danton reprises his role as Gabriel and Fortgang performs a new POV, Joan. I enjoyed Danton’s deep, gravely voice, but his pacing is slower than the other narrators. Fortgang has a fresh voice for Joan.
I think fans of Estep’s Elemental Assassin series and romantic suspense readers will really enjoy the Section 47 stories, especially A Touch of Treachery which really hits a home run for me.
My Ratings
Story: A-
Narration: A- (Laser); B+ (Black, Fortgang); Danton (B)
Jen
About the Book:
VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS . . .
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS . . .
My name is Charlotte Locke, and I’m on a mission to capture my nemesis. As an analyst for Section 47, a secret spy organization, I use my magical form of synesthesia to track down paramortal criminals, but one villain keeps eluding me—Henrika Hyde.
Henrika claims to have answers about my father’s death on a Section 47 mission years ago, and she has also created a horrific new weapon capable of killing even the strongest paramortals, which makes her my number one target. Helping me is Desmond Percy, a powerful galvanist who is my partner both inside and outside Section 47.
Desmond wants to take Henrika down just as badly as I do, but our mission quickly goes sideways, and soon we’re surrounded by enemies on all sides with no idea whom we can truly trust.
A TROUBLING FUTURE . . .
The name Desmond Percy is well known inside Section 47, since I’m one of the organization’s top cleaners, aka assassins. Charlotte Locke and I have been tracking Henrika Hyde for months, and when we finally get a lead on her location, we jump at the chance to take down the weapons maker once and for all.
I’m determined to help Charlotte get the answers she is so desperately seeking, as well as taking my revenge on Henrika for killing my best friend.
But the deeper Charlotte and I dig into Henrika and her murky motives, the more dangerous our mission becomes. Henrika is playing her own spy game, and Charlotte and I are just the pawns she is using to achieve her own evil ends—caught up in a deadly legacy of treachery.
Author: Jennifer Estep
Narrators: Helen Laser, Lance Danton, Nathaniel Black, Lauren Fortgang
Series: Section 47 #3
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Spy Action Thriller, romantic elements
Audiobook Release Date: August 26, 2025
Publisher: Audible Studios
Length: 13 hr; 21 min
Source: Author
Audio Speed: 1.4x
.jpg?w=1300&resize=1300,800&ssl=1 "I love The Traitors, but it has one major issue – and we need to start talking about it")