Blending the stage illusions of a Las Vegas theater with otherworldly magic, Chrysler Szarlan builds tension from the start in her debut novel. "On the day I killed my husband, the scent of lilacs startled me awake," writes Vegas stage magician Revelation Dyer in an enchanted book. A rehearsed trick went horribly wrong in performance, and Reve suspects someone from her past tampered with their props, so she whisks her three daughters home to the abandoned New England village of her ancestors, Hawley Five Corners, where the Dyer women have long been known to be witches. Their attempts to return to a normal life, filled with horseback rides and schoolwork, are only marginally successful, as they can't help but dwell on the past. Reve's apprehension builds, despite defensive measures she takes to keep her girls safe from the presence of something she calls the Fetch.
Months pass as Reve delves more deeply into her family's history, examining the extraordinary gifts each Dyer woman naturally possesses; Reve's talent is the skill to disappear. She scrutinizes her own life and her relationships with old friends in the hopes she'll find clues to reveal the identity of the relentless pursuer. Using power she learns along the way, Reve struggles to protect her family against forces and secrets that threaten to take them, one by one. With a rapid pace and exquisite details that clearly set the scene and mood, Szarlan's novel is a great read for those who love fantasy and tales of witchcraft. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer