Allison Beckstrom is reluctantly growing accustomed to having the ghost of her Dad lodged in her head. She has agreed to work partially under the aegis of The Authority and use her network of Hounds to help maintain an uneasy peace while keeping the city safe from the darker side of magic.

When she begins to see shades of dead magic users walking into and out of ordinary citizens, and a deadly plague with no non-magic cause starts dropping people like flies, she finds herself horribly handicapped. Someone has created a deep-seated change in Allie's talents. Every time she draws on magic she becomes ill and passes out. Still, she struggles through the maze of bureaucracy in The Authority hoping to find some assistance.

But someone in the authority doesn't give a good goddamn that citizens are dying, in fact if Allie didn't know better she'd think Bartholomew Wray was taking advantage of the situation to weaken those who could help Allie stem the tide.

Devon Monk has done an excellent job of tying together strands from the previous books in the Allie Beckstrom series and forwarding the multiple story lines in this, book seven in the series. It would serve a reader well to read the books previous to MAGIC ON THE LINE before opening this one to gain the best possible experience (that is no hardship, Allie Beckstrom is one of the best Urban Fantasy heroines out there).

Monk takes risks with her writing that other authors may not feel comfortable attempting, in her quest to wring the best possible story from within the world she has created. Kudos to her, because as long as she keeps riding that wild tiger, her fans can count on having another unique glimpse into the life of Allie Beckstrom.