The book's themes marked a change for Geller, moving his focus away from illusions such as spoon bending and onto the power of prayer. As part of his research for the novel, Geller spent two days at Saint Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai. Geller said in an interview with Heise Online that he gave powers to Ella that he did have, but always wanted, and noted that a lot of the plot within the book that covered poor public relations stunts and bad press was inspired by the reactions he himself had received over the years, as was the criticism made by the book of skepticism. He expressed his hope to The Times that Ella would be made into a movie, but as yet this has not been the case. The Guardian suggested parallels between Ella's and Geller's lives, with the darkness in Geller's life being reflected in much of the plot of the book.