After World War II, magic began leaking back into the world. By 1990, Dante Ratkay"s father, a physician, gives charms to his patients as well as prescriptions, and cops investigate crimes with the help of angels, people who are possessed and changed by magical ability. An angel stirs within reluctant Dante, and his sly, rivalrous adopted brother Jet shows Dante his own corpse, called into being by Dante"s magic. Magic always has meaning, but what does Dante"s corpse signify? What magic marked Jet as an infant, stalking him through life? This brilliant novel about magic, family ties, and identity has the answers, but they aren"t easy.