Illusion has a premise that grabbed me straight away. Dane is a retired magician who has just lost his wife of 40 years in a car crash. Mandy (Dane's future wife) is a girl from 1970 who has just found herself inexplicably in 2010. When Dane meets young Mandy he knows there is something familiar about her, but she can't be who he thinks she is.

Mandy herself begins to question her own sanity and wonder if her previous life was nothing but a delusion - but as time goes on, more and more temporal events occur. Not only that, but she is developing some bizarre abilities.

Frank Peretti builds up an intriguing mythology and keeps the reader guessing for some time. The characters are well rounded and feel like friends by the end of the book. In usual Peretti style, the story gets pretty fast-paced as it approaches the climax.

The science fiction concepts in this book were strong enough to hold my interest, but mild enough not to scare off the average non sci-fi reader.

Below the surface of all of this is a number of spiritual metaphors that give the story even more depth.