Illusion

Dane and Mandy Collins have been a popular magic act for close to 30 years. In their late fifties, they plan to retire but their plans are devastated by a fiery car wreck. Dane awakens in a hospital and learns that Mandy is dead. As he reflects on their life together and how they first met at a magic show, we see 19-year-old Mandy in a flashback: Mandy and two friends are visiting a theme park in Idaho when they happen upon a theater where a magician will be doing a show in an hour. While waiting to see the show, young Mandy falls asleep on a bench and abruptly awakes on the ground. She fell asleep in 1970; it is now 2010. Distraught, she is noticed by security personnel. She winds up in a mental hospital, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Mandy escapes from the hospital. Alone and penniless, she begins eking out a dime by performing magic for anyone who will stop, watch, and leave a tip. A friend tells Dane, there’s a magic act that he ought to see. Dane has retired from magic but agrees to watch the girl perform. Dane is transfixed by the magic he sees, illusions that even he, a seasoned professional, cannot readily explain. But more than anything, he is emotionally devastated by this 19-year-old who is in every respect identical to the young beauty he first met some 40 years earlier. When Mandy and Dane reunite, they must decide what their future is . . . and uncover the conspiracy behind their meeting; the strange, supernatural bent to Mandy's magic; and who is following them. Again, Frank Peretti has crafted a riveting novel full of twists and mystery.