WHEN AN ILLUSIONIST joins the Pines & Quill writing retreat, one of the owners vanishes without a trace in the middle of everyone--but the surrounding would-be witnesses don't see or hear a thing. That's when crime boss Georgio Gambino makes a checkmate move against his nemesis, Sean McPherson--he attempts to blackmail a writer in residence into killing another writer and framing McPherson. In a video call, Gambino warns the writer, "If you don't follow orders, your daughter will die." Then he pans the camera to prove his access to her college dorm room.

As he begins to investigate, McPherson discovers that Carmine Fiore, Gambino's second in command, covets his boss's role and is staging a coup. As Gambino's soldiers traffic drugs, weapons, and humans, Fiore plants incriminating evidence against the notorious Sureños gang. Can McPherson leverage that knowledge for a temporary truce and the gang's help?

Even if he can, the Sureños gang won't be enough alone. As the clock ticks down, McPherson gathers Pines & Quill's writers in residence--a former NASCAR driver, a professional triathlete, an architect turned house flipper, and a world-renowned magician who may not be who she appears to be--to create the illusion of a lifetime.