From Stan Lee, the pop-culture legend behind Marvel’s Avengers, Black Panther, X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man, comes a major publishing event. One of the last creative acts of a master storyteller, A Trick of Light was first introduced in the best-selling audiobook Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light. The hardcover features exclusive content, including bonus chapters and an afterword by Alliances universe co-creators Luke Lieberman and Ryan Silbert.

Nia, a gifted but desperately lonely hacker, is living in isolation with her strict single dad. As a social-media maven, she is wildly popular and has more than a million friends. But they are all strangers who love her posts but know nothing about her that is real.

Cameron is on a quest for YouTube fame as a vlogger focusing on exploring the mysteries of Lake Erie. While recording his latest video, he is knocked out by lightning in a freak storm that appears to defy the laws of physics. When Cameron awakens, he discovers an astonishing cyberkinetic talent: the ability to manipulate computers and electronics with his mind.

After a chance meeting online, the two teenagers—one born with extraordinary gifts, one unwillingly transformed—join together to right wrongs in the world. As Nia and Cameron develop their powers and deal out reckonings, they draw the attention of dangerous forces, putting the future of the planet at risk.

Set in Stan Lee’s Alliances Universe, co-created by Lee, Luke Lieberman, and Ryan Silbert, and written with Edgar Award–nominated author Kat Rosenfield, Stan Lee delivers a novel packed with the pulse-pounding, breakneck adventure and the sheer exuberant invention that have defined his career as the creative mastermind behind the spectacular Marvel universe.

“Leave it to Stan Lee to save his very best for last. A Trick of Light is as heartfelt and emotional as it is original and exciting. What a movie this one will make.”—James Patterson