The Bottom Line: A must-read whodunnit in which illusion, misdirection and motive are cleverly intertwined.
Set amid the neon glamour of Atlantic City, ZigZag Girl opens on what should be a pivotal performance for magician Lucy Moon. But as showtime approaches, her co-performer and closest friend, Vanessa Kim, still hasn’t arrived. Vanessa would never miss a performance, and as minutes tick by, Lucy’s concern hardens into dread.
That dread becomes horror when the evening’s signature illusion, a historic sawing box tied to a decades-old murder, is finally revealed. Lucy discovers Vanessa dead inside the box, naked, and staged to be found at the precise moment all eyes are watching. In a single devastating instant, a night meant for triumph becomes a crime scene, and Lucy is thrust into a mystery where illusion itself is weaponized.
Author Ruth Knafo Setton has created a compelling guide through this story in Lucy, who narrates much of the novel in the first person. Raised among magicians, Lucy understands misdirection, how easily attention can be steered and how much can be hidden in plain sight. To Lucy, magic is more than a profession. It becomes a lens for examining power, control, and who gets to shape a story.
Lucy’s inner thoughts draw the reader deep into the mechanics of illusion and the psychology behind it. One of the novel’s most evocative images is the Zigzag Girl illusion itself, a vertical sawing box that allows the assistant to stand, breathe, and control the apparatus from within. By contrasting this design with the traditional box, Setton subtly reframes illusion as a question of authorship and power, not just technique.
As the investigation unfolds, Lucy begins to suspect that whoever staged the crime understands illusion as intimately as she does. She navigates a tightly controlled world of performers, casino power players, journalists, and law enforcement. Atlantic City itself becomes a character, haunted, decaying, and fueled by spectacle. As Lucy digs deeper, she senses that the murder may be connected not only to the present cast of suspects, but to older stories and buried histories that refuse to stay buried. Without ever being heavy-handed, the novel invites readers to look past the whodunnit and question how easily violence can be framed and consumed without analysis. The result is a propulsive, psychologically rich murdery mystery that pairs a striking premise with a heroine whose insight and vulnerability shape every turn of the investigation. Don’t miss it.
