Consider the classic magician’s trick of sawing a woman in half.

The “victim” — usually the magician’s assistant — lies face up in a rectangular box, either with her head and feet sticking out or, in the earliest iterations of the illusion, fully enclosed in a coffin-like structure, watching and listening as a rusty saw slices the box (and her?) in two.

To write convincingly about the trick, which is both a pivotal scene and driving metaphor of her new novel “Zigzag Girl,” former Lehigh University professor Ruth Knafo Setton went under the knife — er, saw — numerous times.

“Even If you understand the principles of the illusion, there’s a moment of terror, a moment of fear, the sensation of being closed in,” Setton said. “I don’t recommend doing it if you’re claustrophobic.”

Pretending to risk life and limb before a live audience is just one adventure in a life full of thrills for Setton, who was born in Morocco and settled with her family in Allentown when she was 3. She’s flown in a hot air balloon over the moon-like landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey, and sailed through typhoons three times while teaching literature courses as a Semester at Sea professor.

Setton shares her love of travel with her husband, Joe Setton, a real estate broker and former South Whitehall Township commissioner, and children Ishai, Arielle and Avi Setton, all Parkland High School graduates.

Setton was a writer in residence at the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies at Lehigh University and taught creative writing and other courses there in the early 2000s.

“Zigzag Girl,” which came out Tuesday, is Setton’s second novel. It’s getting a lot of attention in the publishing world. It was recently named a finalist for the 2026 International Thriller Writers Award for best standalone book. It’s also a Grand Prize winner in ScreenCraft’s Cinematic Book Competition and won first prize in the Daphne du Maurier Awards for Mystery.

Described by Setton as a “twisty contemporary mystery with a touch of magic,” “Zigzag Girl” is the story of Lucy Moon, a brilliant illusionist who comes from a family of famous magicians. To catch her friend’s murderer, Moon must confront both a serial killer and her own mysterious past. She does this with the help of a fierce band of female magicians while navigating the gritty Atlantic City underworld.

Setton said she’s always loved magic and sees it in the world all around her. To write convincingly about the craft, she attended magicians’ conferences and workshops, and trained under several high-profile illusionists, including Teller, of Penn and Teller, Eugene Burger and Jeff McBride.

“I got very lucky because I was invited into this world, and it’s a world of secrets. It was an experience that fed my soul,” she said.

Magic is still a male-dominated arena, with women making up less than 9% of the members of the Academy of Magical Arts, an industry group for professional magicians. Setton said that’s changing, with camps and workshops seeing more young women trying out the craft.

During her research for “Zigzag Girl,” Setton learned numerous tricks. During one workshop, she wrestled herself out of a straitjacket before an audience of 30 magicians.

But it was the woman-sawed-in-half illusion that captured her imagination the most. While playing the sawed assistant role with a kindly older magician, Setton began thinking about their different perspectives, and found a way to make the story unique.

“I’m in the box looking up at him. He’s smiling down on me, as if to say, ‘Don’t worry.’ At that moment it hit me, he will never know what it’s like to be in the box. I wanted to flip that and tell it from the perspective of the person in the box,” she said.

Setton will discuss “ZigZag Girl” on March 16 at Parkland Library (registration required), and March 21 at Barnes and Noble in Whitehall Township.

Laurie Mason Shroeder is a freelance writer.