Lovers of high-action thrillers will be delighted to discover Angel Killer by Andrew Mayne, who has used his extensive experience as a professional illusionist as the basis for an unusual and highly entertaining detective story. Jessica Blackwood is an FBI agent who spends her time trying to keep her head down and do as much good as she can. Jessica was born into a family of magicians, and spent the first two decades of her life onstage working to perfect the family craft while dodging her mercurial grandfather's moods. She left the industry and cut off all ties with her family when an escape attempt went awry and nearly ended her life.
Now, Jessica is forced to acknowledge her unusual skills when a murderer known as the Warlock stages a series of ghoulish, impossible-seeming crimes. Jessica is able to reveal that what at first appears to be the work of an actual sorcerer is really just a devious and elaborate combination of illusions, much like those she used many years ago. As the FBI draws closer to the killer, however, Jessica begins to suspect that she herself may be in grave danger.
Angel Killer is tightly plotted and fast-paced, with a compelling protagonist, a ghastly villain and even a dashing and dangerous antihero in the form of Jessica's brilliant but deranged ex-boyfriend, Damian. By the end of the book, the Warlock's identity is revealed, but Mayne entices readers with the possibility of a future confrontation between Jessica and an even greater evil. --Emma Page, bookseller at Island Books in Mercer Island, Wash.