Intuition

by Jayne Fordham, Jayne Fordham (Pseudonym)

Olive Morgan is not your typical psychologist. She can also access the memories of anyone she comes into contact with. After an explosion in a Sydney shopping mall, Olive is enlisted alongside a team of 'Elite' consultants. She joins Canan Jones who can attune to the emotions of other people, including Olive. Initially, she distrusts the agency, but when another explosion threatens more lives Olive has no choice but to use her skill to prevent another disaster.

Is terrorism really at play or is the agency hiding the real reason behind these attacks?

Olive wants to solve the case, but her personal life is suffering. Despite having a boyfriend, she feels a connection brewing with Canan, who has an uncanny way of making her feel calm when life becomes overwhelming...


Intuition is a tale of supernatural suspense and the first book in the Elite Series.

Genres: Fantasy

340 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2012

About the author

Jayne Fordham is the pen name for Lauren Murphy:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book for an honest review on the Enchanted Book Promotions book tour.

This book tells the story of a group of random Australians brought together to aid in the mission of a TOP SECRET government’s mission to catch a terrorist.

The cover had me thinking this was a bit of a thriller; and I expected a little more action. But this was a suspense novel through and through. It also had an array of crime and the supernatural. You never knew the turn the events would take, but it wasn’t really a heart pumping adventure. Nonetheless, this book had me captivated in hours of reading bliss!

The characters were very likable and believable. The villains' "weapons of retaliation" were far more interesting than the heroes', which was kind of unfair. (Which brings me to my only complaint: This story did not really allow the hero team to really flex their muscles.) Yet I have a feeling Olive may have the potential to evolve in subsequent novels. *Fingers crossed* Not everything was as it seemed and the revaluations were plentiful. That was a double plus! The romantic element was cute and not over the top. The back story of the characters was very eye raising; and I hope this is further explored within The Elite Series.

Rating: 3.5 hearts

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intuition is the first book in the Elite series and tells the story of a young psychologist, Olive Morgan, who has a rare talent. Olive, it seems is able to see the memories of anyone that she comes into contact with. And when Sydney is rocked by a terrorist attack, Olive discovers that her talents are being sought be the government who want to put together a elite team of people, each of whom have a unique talent, to help discover who has made the attack and why.

I purchased Intuition a few weeks ago, as I was looking for something different to read that was one, set in Australia, and two, featured characters who were young but not necessarily teenagers. And while I was reading some of the posts over at the Australian Bookshelf I saw the page for Intuition and thought that it fitted my requirements nicely. (For those of you who don't know, Lauren Murphy who runs the Australian Bookshelf blog sometimes writes under the pseudonym of Jayne Fordham.) On the whole, I found Intuition to be an enjoyable read and found myself getting caught up in the story--particularly the climatic ending that was set inside Sydney's Central Station. Less enjoyable was the subplot that involved Olive and her unlikely romance with Trent--it was a little too clear from the start that Olive and Trent were mis-matched and that one of her Elite colleagues was a much better suitor. I was also intrigued by the diverse set of talents that the Elite group--while Olive can access memories her three colleagues Canan, Zac and Hope could feel the emotions of others, persuade them and see their futures. We also meet other young people with some interesting talents.

Intuition is fun, light reading.

This review previously appeared on my blog, Kathryn's Inbox

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intuition is about a group of young individuals who are recruited by a government agency to assist in solving a case. These individuals have also recently discovered they have certain psychic powers or abilities and are asked by the agency to use these unique powers in an effort to discover who is causing terrorist-looking explosions all over Sydney.

As the new 'recruits' start working together they begin to discover certain interesting bits of information about themselves and each other as well as how and why they came to have their unique abilities.

The main character, Olive Morgan, has the ability to see other people's memories just by touching them. At the time she is recruited to the agency, Olive has only newly discovered her power and is still trying to come to grips with what she is able to do. She is also in a bit of a dead-end relationship and has to battle with discovering how to handle her ability as well as work out what to do about the feelings she is beginning to have for Canan, who one of the other recruits.

It was a nice change to read a book set in Sydney, Australia and I felt a bit more connected to the characters and the events that occurred in the book because of them being Australian and due to being familiar with the places mentioned. I honestly can't remember the last time I read a novel that was set in Australia.

Intuition is a fast paced novel that I thoroughly enjoyed reading and had a hard time putting down, especially towards the end. I recommend it to anyone who is after a light read and enjoys a bit of the supernatural mixed in with a bit of action and suspense.

I am definitely looking forward to reading the next instalment in The Elite Series when it gets released.

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olive can know a person’s past whenever she touches them, delving into their deepest emotions and most well-guarded secrets. Although she tries to refrrain from using her powers, that’s easier said than done. Then she’s contacted by an agency who wants to put together an “Elite” team, a team of people with other intuitive gifts. Together they have to stop a series of supposed terrorist crimes happening all over the country.

The people in Olive’s squad all have gifts of their own. Cadan for instance can read other people’s emotions – if they’re anxious, happy, sad, and a lot more than that. Whereas Olive can see the past, Hope can see the future. And Zac can manipulate people into behaving a certain way. But there are more uncanny resemblances between them than just the fact that they’re all gifted with something related to emotions. They were all born on April Fool’s Day as well. And they’re not the only ones.

What author Jayne Fordham has written here is supernatural suspense at its best. I was immediately enthralled with the characters, especially Olive. She’s a psychologist, so she’s used to helping out patients deal with traumas and experiences, but once she gets thrown into the action herself and suffers from a near-death experience, she has trouble adapting her psychologist skills to her own life. This, along with several other characteristics, make her very human. She struggles between staying in a relationship with her long-time boyfriend Trent who obviously doesn’t love her the way he should, and she relies heavily on her friends in time of crisis. I wish we got to see more of Olive’s relationship with her parents though. We see a brief scene of her talking to her Mom, who has bought a gigantic number of socks on ebay, but that’s about it. Her Mom does sound like a fun character though, so I hope we get to see more of her soon.

I liked Hope and Zac, but it felt like they were a bit underdeveloped. Hope doesn’t show any real personality, making her the weakest link in the entire squad. She seems friendly enough, but is she really? I wish Olive would’ve taken more time to get to know Hope personally so the readers could get to know her as well. Knowing one’s past is relatively simple compared to possibly knowing the future, and I would’ve liked if the book delved more into that topic as well. It seems overlooked. Our main character Olive is a bit wary of Zac from the start. He’s over-confident, sometimes bordering on arrogant, but we soon figure out why. I actually thought Zac was, next to Olive, the most interesting character. Again, I wish I could’ve seen more of him, but hopefully in the next few books.

Cadan, the other remaining member of the Elite team, soon becomes Olive’s love interest. He’s everything her current boyfriend isn’t: attentive and caring, not a big fan of going out and getting drunk, intuitive and intriguing. There was genuine chemistry between these two characters and I was cheering for them early on, especially when Olive’s boyfriend turned out to be an idiot. Olive definitely has a lot more patience than I have, because she stayed with Trent longer than I would’ve.

This book relies heavily on its plot, and the plot itself is very intriguing. There are supposed terrorist attacks happening all over the country. Fires start seemingly out of the blue and firemen are left wondering what the heck is going on. But then the Elite Team gets a lead, and the cause of the fires may be more supernatural than anyone believed at first…

Intuition is a decent, fast-paced novel with some intriguing plot twists and loveable characters. It’s the ideal book to read on a rainy afternoon or when you’re getting ready for bed. Although aimed primarily at adults, there are no inappropriate scenes, and it could be read by young adults as well. If you’re a fan of supernatural suspense, you don’t want to miss out on this one.

[S.J. Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this story: Interesting characters with new-found psychic abilities are recruited by a mysterious covert agency. Their mission: To stop a terrorist. Or so they believe. I'll leave it at that, in the interest of not revealing spoilers.

Fordham's main challenge in this book is building the credibility of her characters. The team is headed by two mature men, but the new recruits are barely old enough to drink. They certainly live the lifestyle people of this age often enjoy, complete with hangovers the next day. Now, probably for the first time in their lives, these characters are faced with harsh reality and life and death situations. Fordham is tasked with convincing readers that a government counter-terrorist unit would need to rely on this group of misfits to handle an issue of national security.

As a psychologist just starting out, Olive is confused about why they'd choose her, until she learns it's the entire team's special abilities the organization is really after. Relieved to know she's not the only one with a strange gift, and eager to get to know others similar, she agrees to help.

Due to a plot twist the new recruits are all the same age. They're immature and often unprofessional. Differing life experiences gave each unique outlooks, but not enough for them to approach their mission with the seriousness it requires. Needless to say, this gets them into hot water more than once. As a reader, this immaturity frustrated me at times, however, I believe this may just be a plot device used by the author.

Fordham wove twist after twist through plenty of action. She spent a lot of time telling me how the characters reacted instead of showing me, and I felt the momentum suffered because it. Without the opportunity to get inside their heads and figure these kids out for myself, I had some difficulty making an emotional connection to the characters.