BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER for the GazetteXtra..   THE BOOK“ The Magician’s Lie” by Greer Macallister; Sourcebooks (320 pages, $24).

Now you see it. Now you don’t.

Why? Because a good magician knows how to hide props behind fingers, beneath clothes, in pockets. And yet we love seeing that sleight of hand, the illusion, the chance to be awe-struck, entertained and fooled.

In “The Magician’s Lie” by Greer Macallister, the one thing this magician might be hiding is the truth.

The story follows Virgil Holt, a small-town police officer who figures that his life is over. Just that week, Virgil learns that the bullet he carries in his body could kill him at any time. Virgil is sure he will lose his badge, his wife, his home—everything he has worked so hard to earn.

When a dead man—gruesomely chopped in half—is found in a theater basement, Virgil almost wishes he could trade places with him.

But something happens that could save Virgil: He captures the Amazing Arden, an illusionist and the wife of the dead man. Virgil has seen her stage show and knows she can cut men in two. Now he has her, and she’s triple-handcuffed to a jailhouse chair.

Virgil wants a confession, but instead, Arden tells him a story.

Long ago, Arden was known as Ada. Her mother taught her to dance, and she had big plans. But a cousin ruined everything by throwing Ada off a beam onto a barn floor. Just before fleeing for her life, Ada learned that she had healing powers.

As a runaway, Ada took a job as a kitchen maid. She met a boy and ran away with him to New York, but he left and broke her heart. She eventually found work with a magic show, where she learned the art of illusion and how to please a crowd.  Read more at…..

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