Mister Magic A Novel

This book started incredibly well. The conspiracy cult like themes, small town mysteries, and childhood tragedies make this a compelling read.

A reviewer mentioned “The Horror took the HORROR out of the book”. And I agree. The paranormal supernatural elements of the book just made this weird and less eerie. I wanted to feel unsettled. I wanted to feel my skin crawl and to be weary while reading this book. But alas that feeling never happened.

Do I recommend? If you like supernatural elements in your book

I'm not really sure what to think of this one. It was just so surreal, it was hard to have a grasp on what was going on, what was being said. Especially in the end, very surreal. But still, I loved the characters and was pretty invested in what would happen to them, what they'd do. The setting & mystery was interesting and confusion. I wonder if a reread would clear things up?

(It's a bit eye-opening to learn that Kiersten White was Mormon, kinda puts some pieces together, not that I can put words to it.)

This was fun and a quick page turner but I have so many unanswered questions.

i can’t remember the last time a book made me cry. but this one did it. i saw so much of myself in every character, especially valentine, and i was cheering for their safety and happiness the entire time. i came into this book through a creepypasta hyperfixation and came out with my brain chemistry completely rewired.

Fantastic story! Really enjoyed this one and sad to have finished it :(

Someone on TikTok described this book as being similar to the creepypasta Candle Cove, and that was all I needed to hear. Mister Magic is the children’s show that lives on in the backs of people’s minds surrounded by rumours. No one can remember what really happened, but after a tragedy struck, the show ended. Thirty years have passed, and the five remaining cast members have been brought back together for a podcast in the middle of a desert compound. But something sinister is going on in the background and as the circle rediscover things about themselves and who they are now, they have to wonder if they’re really here by choice or if they’ve been lured into a trap. This book did an excellent job at weaving an atmosphere of mystery. The foreboding feeling of a dark childhood secret lingers throughout the story from the first chapter. Reading this book felt like peeling back childhood memories only to find something horrific and traumatic. I loved how this book satirized online groups who insist that childhood shows all have a truer, deeper and dark meaning, which were almost always edgy theories that people pull out of their asses. I loved how this story wore its CreepyPasta influence on its sleeve, especially when commenting on how urban legends are told throughout different generations. I loved how this story explored the ideas behind child stars, exploitative networks, and celebrity culture/godhood. I felt like certain themes or ideas could have been clarified or fleshed out more in the end, but I enjoyed this story regardless. I think Candle Cove’s original ending worked so effectively because it existed as a short story, while Mister Magic struggles in the end as it attempts to tie everything together after an entire novel of ominous build up. I think the ending functions well if you imagine this story as an extended episode of The Twilight Zone or a horror themed anthology show.

Long review incoming! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of the ebook.

Content warnings: memory loss, death of family member, child abuse, trypophobia, religious metaphors

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Mister Magic is a magnetic thriller, twisted up in neon, nineties, VHS nostalgia and the creeping sensation of forgotten core memories.

I’d call this novel a coming-of-age story, but the lead characters are in their late 30s. Then again, maybe we come of age many times in our lives.

Mister Magic was a television show in the 1990s – your favorite show when you were a kid, sitting on the living room carpet with your eyes glued to the tv – until it stopped airing after a studio accident no one can quite remember. Now, 30 years later, there is no cast list, no recordings online, no official record of it having existed.
That is where the novel begins, with the call for a reunion podcast of the now-grown child actors, the Circle of Friends. Most of the friends have treasured their memories as they grew older, but one forgot entirely.
Capable and stubborn 38-year-old Val has lived most of her life on a secluded ranch, and remembers nothing of her life before that. Until she meets these familiar strangers, and realizes they’re the only friends she’s ever had, and joins them on their reunion in the desert.

The chapters are interspersed with worldbuilding “found documents,” like fan-written articles, reddit posts, or twitter threads. The inclusion of this epistolary element really helped to build the mythos of the Mister Magic in-universe lore.

Like the titular cloaked enigma, reading this novel felt like being wrapped up in the unsettling blanket of childhood memories, fuzzy around the edges, like the weird sensation of looking at an old photograph of yourself and having no recollection of the moment it was taken. I devoured this book in two days, which really emphasized the dizzying storyline.

I’ll keep spoilers from this review, but I admit it’s a little tricky! (Isn’t the best part of a thriller the fact that it’s not what it seems?) Safe to say, Kiersten White sticks the landing. I was stunned by the ending, and I really loved it. I was even more stunned by her authors note at the end, and I truly appreciate the time and vulnerability it took to write afterword. Highly recommend reading that once you finish the book.

I appreciated that a book so focused on the fragility of childhood is not wholly about growing up, but about what happens when you do grow up. White writes with an openness and a tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that I found wholly relatable as I recently entered my 30s. It’s funny to read a book expecting an enjoyable thriller romp, and then to be seen so entirely and realize, Oh, I’M the demographic here. She really got me.

I’m more familiar with Kiersten White’s fantasy books, and I’m really impressed with how seamlessly she’s transitioned into thriller novels. (I will definitely be reading Hide next!)

The way White offers specific details in character design – like Isaacs big eyes magnified by his glasses, or the subtle twitching motions we see in the characters – reminds me of the very specific character descriptions of a fantasy novel. I could see the scenes acted out so perfectly in my head, like watching a movie, very cinematic but also lending intimate thoughts of the characters.

Val in particular, beside her specific character design, has fantastically full-fleshed motivations and opinions, which makes her stand out as a character and not just a reader or author stand-in. I loved Val’s craving for stories, for secrets, to know people.

This book is a solid 4-star read for me, but not quite 5-star since I wanted a little more from the other characters. Val is an excellent protagonist, I felt like I really knew her and her small quirks and large fears. The other characters had motivations that I understood, but felt a little flat. (What do they do in their spare time? Sometimes it felt like they were only products of their trauma - which is perhaps the point, but I wanted to see glimpses of personality outside of their Mister Magic shared history.) Jenny is the second most developed character, I think, and I really appreciated her arc and relationship with Val.

One nit-pick, I don’t like that one character (not mentioning for spoilers) keeps saying “what I was” and not “who I was.” Feels weird and inauthentic, especially given the theme of not seeing children as objects.

This novel shares an issue pitfall with most thrillers, which is prolonged vagueness and many non-answers. In the beginning, I, too, felt Val’s frustration as she tried to get answers for her missing memory. But at the halfway mark and further, I was so annoyed that no one would give her a straight answer! Again, perhaps that’s the nature of thriller novels. But I felt in the dark for a good amount of the story, and wanted to see Val slowly piecing together memories without having to rely on the other characters’ answers.

The cover design of Mister Magic is simple yet effective — the nostalgic iconography of an old tv and a rainbow test pattern that is both nostalgic and unsettling on the stark searing magenta void. I think it’s a smart choice to choose a “cheery” pink instead of a black void for the background, falsely welcoming and magnetic. There’s something about the typed-out “Mister” that is weirdly upsetting to me, like “Mr. Magic” wouldn’t have been as creepy — another effective choice in the novel dressing.

I’d recommend this book to fans of nostalgic horror, especially millenials who still lovingly cling to their VHS tapes. The vibes are like Child’s Play and E.T. And IT. Yes, sure, E.T. isn’t technically a horror film, but the energy is there. If you watched Out of the Box as a kid, like I did, then you’ll get the vibes of Mister Magic.

I also recommend this for fans of horror author Riley Sager, particularly his haunted house novel Home Before Dark. As in Home Before Dark, unearthing childhood memories and incorporating a found-document element are present in Mister Magic, too.