Lilah's Guide to Hoyle

"All life is a gamble . . . We go to sleep every night comfortably betting that the next day we'll wake up. When the stakes are your soul, every hand is a gamble. After a disastrous card game wipes out her college fund, Lilah makes a desperate pact with a demon. The bargain binds her birthday gift-a deck of cards from her grandfather-to her blood, turning every hand she plays into something more than a game. Armed with Hoyle's Guide to Poker and Parlor Tricks, a battered rulebook turned personal grimoire, Lilah discovers that the right shuffle can unlock more of her power. But every trick pulls her further from who she was . . . and closer to the voice in the dark that owns her debt. Across the city, two detectives are tracking a string of bizarre crimes that keep escalating-clues pointing to a single suspect, though none of it seems like coincidence. With the demon's whispers growing louder and the law closing in, Lilah must decide whether to fold before the final hand takes her humanity-or keep playing a game where every card could be her undoing. Urban fantasy meets high-stakes thriller.