Prohibition has begun, and the Roaring Twenties are about to begin. After a deadly automobile accident, an ancient set of Lithomancy stones are spilled out onto the street, and a clear blue magic stone falls into a storm grate on the side of the road
On his way home from grade school, a young Jack Di Salvo sees something shiny under some dirt and wet leaves and gets on his hands and knees for a closer look. Once he wedges it out, it immediately begins to absorb his fear, easing his anxieties and granting him fleeting glimpses into the hopes and dreams of others
As he grows, the power of that clear blue stone grows with him, unlocking the hidden thoughts, desires, and fears of all those around him. In the shadow of Johnny's pancake house in downtown Utica, Jack's mother, Harriet, serves breakfast by day-while by night the top two floors hum with whispered secrets of another kind
From a dusty, bricked-off cellar room in the back of 1720 Court Street, Jack and his partner Roy Mancini enforce the rules set on the street by Messala Cosentino and the Tarantino family. Their rise will spark a gangland war- and a macabre set of events that the press will later call, "The Twin Forks Massacre"
Magic, crime, and betrayal collide in this haunting tale of power, ambition, and consequence during one of the most volatile eras in American history