While investigating a series of baffling fires in San Diego, FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers is drawn into a deadly web of intrigue where nothing is as it appears to be. With his own criminology research being turned against him and one of the worlds most deadly devices missing, Bowers is caught up in a race against time to stop a criminal mastermind's trap before it closes around him and the people he loves.

Called to North Carolina to consul on the case of an area serial killer, Bowers finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Cunning and lethal, the killer is always one step ahead of the law, and he's about to strike again. It will take all of Bowers's instincts and training to stop the man who calls himself The Illusionist.