Muse

IT'S the supernatural world's equivalent of the witness protection program, only in Muse, the party in need of monitoring is an angel.

IT'S the supernatural world's equivalent of the witness protection program, only in Muse, the party in need of monitoring is a "broad-limbed, stern-faced'' angel named Mercy and the reason she's in exile is that she fell in love, several lifetimes ago, with another angel called Luc who may or may not want to kill her now.

But shielding an immortal being isn't as straightforward as procuring a bunch of bogus credit cards and a 12-month lease in a non-descript neighbourhood, so the eight elohim (all-powerful archangels) charged with ensuring Mercy's safety have had to resort to soul-jacking - housing the errant angel in the bodies of a series of mortal women, presumably while they figure out what to do about her one-time love interest.

Their choices have been unorthodox, to say the least. She has found herself variously dropped into the lives of an Ezra, a Lucy, a Susannah, a Carmen and a Lela - women who have nothing in common with one another, or, it must be said, an exiled angel with man trouble.

In her latest incarnation, she is Irina Zhivanevskaya - "wild, self-centred and spiteful'' - and apparently being hidden from her adversaries in plain sight. Not only is Irina "one of the world's most infamous supermodels'', but she's teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown while being pursued by the paparazzi, a sleazy driver and the angry ex-fiancee of her last love interest.

And that's the least of Mercy's problems. During her last soul-jacking, she managed to fall in love with Ryan, who is the human double of Luc, her avenging angel, who's not exactly pleased by the development. So will Mercy be found? Will Luc get his wings clipped? And, most pressingly, will readers stick around for the final instalment of this four-book series?

VERDICT: Supermodel meets supernatural

Muse, Rebecca Lim, HarperCollins, $19.99