🎧 MISTER MAGIC by Kiersten White
Genre: thriller
3.5 stars

💭: this was slightly underwhelming for me but felt like it had a lot of potential. I feel like I’ve read a lot of these childhood-star-revisits-traumatic-past tropes and this didn’t do a whole lot differently??

Full review and links to social will be posted as soon as possible.

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thoughts: Heavy on magical realism, but an interesting metaphor for faith and moral code. I struggled a bit with the amount of magical realism because the author got rather "wordy" at times, losing me in some of the redundancy and magic. And I almost wish I had read the acknowledgements first because, while the book mentions Brigham Young and Utah in general, the connection to Mormonism might not necessarily be apparent to readers unfamiliar with the religion unless they read White's background beforehand. Once I read the acknowledgements, though, I had a new appreciation for this book and what it must have taken for her to write it. On its own, it is an interesting story about the magic of childhood, but I definitely thought Mister Magic himself was going to be a more nefarious character. I'm also a big horror fan, though, so my imagination may have gotten away from me, and I had also just watched Mr. Crockett on Hulu, so I was comparing apples to oranges here. Still a good story with a creepy plot that shines a spotlight on who makes the moral code children are taught to follow, and what it means to be "good" or "bad".

**Thank you, Netgalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

I will not be giving feedback on this title at this time. Unfortunately, I did not finish this book because it was not my taste.

Mister Magic has an inventive premise but the monotonous pacing and fumbled reveals make this much more miss than hit. White’s novel follows the characters of a popular but mysterious children’s show decades after it goes off the air. Unfortunately, the characters are flat and the lingering trauma is blunt and lacks nuance. The show itself is the strongest element of the novel, but if we had to endure one more description of what people thought they remembered, I would have gone crazy. This could have worked if it was tightly paced novella. I do not recommend this book at all.

After thoroughly enjoying this author's other horror books I was so excited to dive into this one. Even though I have a child, children's shows tend to freak me out, so I went into this with high expectations expecting to be scared. And boy was I wrong. I did enjoy the very beginning and honestly thought this could be a 4 or 5 stars. But I very, very quickly lost interest in the story, despite it only taking me a couple of hours to read. I understand the underlying meaning to it all with the kids being brainwashed and all of their messed up lives but I wanted more scary, not fantastical.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Del Rey for the gifted copy for my honest review.

A children's show that inspires a cult like following, a pending podcast promising a potential revival, the mysterious disappearance of one, or maybe two, of the show's child actors....
An away you go into the peculiar world that is Mister Magic.

Val has no memory of her childhood before she and her father wound up living on Gloria's ranch. Hiding from .. what? She never asked and now that her father has passed, she can't. But her childhood friends and co-stars of the Mister Magic show happen to find her at her father's funeral and whisk her away to the very start of it all and now Val can get the answers to questions she never knew she should be asking.

Part mystery, part supernatural... Mister Magic intrigued me... exactly where was this story taking me?
Overall, very interesting premise, but it was hard to connect with all the characters individually. They kept making silly mistakes that one would have expected more from a YA cast, but maybe they were stuck in their traumatized youth. Their overall foolishness was saved by the fascinating mystery of Mister Magic that I enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC, all opinions are my own. Onto the review.

I cried at the end of this book. Closed my e-reader and literally sobbed.

Mister Magic is about a woman who’s father died recently and the lies and darkness that lurks in a past she can’t remember. But it comes back to her in the form of a few other people she apparently did a television show with as a child back in the 90’s.

This book deals with abuse, how people foist responsibilities on those who shouldn’t be responsible so they can be comfortable. How they’re willing to destroy innocence for control over others.

And even I picked up on the Mormonism in this one.

I don’t think I can adequately say how amazing this book was. Writing, character, everything was amazing. It was haunting, scary, angering, just amazing. I loved it.

And the ending of this book, it grabbed me right by the heart and wouldn’t let go. It had a message that I needed to hear. If you’ve been a victim of abuse, whether religious or physical, it will speak to you. And I needed it.

Please buy this book. 5 stars. All the stars

This. Book. Was. Insane! And I mean that in the absolute best way, because I literally did not want to stop reading. Perfect for spooky season!

I was given an arc of this last year and i had so much going on i didnt get to it. So now im going through my back list ARCs of this and last year. I went into this thinking i wasnt gonna like it because i didnt like the authors book hide. But i was actually surprised i enjoyed it. I like the supernatural aspect of this novel. I didnt really care fot any of the characters. But it had me wanting to know what's next

You must read Kiersten White’s author’s note to fully appreciate "Mister Magic."

Because the book isn’t really about the reunion of a group of child stars from a beloved TV program who are determined to uncover the secrets behind the tragedy that ended the show. I mean – it is, but it isn’t. That’s happening on the surface – yes – but running beneath it is a more personal story to White, one based on her own trauma.

I’ll leave it at that and say no more, because I do think it’s more impactful for the reader to finish the book and then be surprised by White’s note afterward. It puts a different spin on the story, allowing it to hit in another way.

Though be prepared for a slow burn read. The novel is classified as horror, which it is, but it’s more psychological horror than anything else, often veering into the realm of the surreal and the abstract. White takes her time to build the story and, as it progresses, does an excellent job of creating a simultaneous sense of bewilderment and dread in the reader.

I really liked "Mister Magic." Looking back, I’ll admit White is at times too loud with some of her messaging. But for the most part, she makes her points with a subtlety I found to be effective.


My sincerest appreciation to Kiersten White, Del Rey, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

My feelings on this book were kind of a rollercoaster.

I went from absolutely in love- the beginning hooked me, I was wildly interested in Val's missing memories and the the mystery of this show that's all but disappeared, and these strange men that popped up and yet somehow felt very familiar to Val.

Then I started losing steam around 45% nothing was really happening- yes the characters were all acting strange and the podcast interviews were creepy, but we were learning absolutely NOTHING. I was frustrated that no one would tell Val *ANYTHING* it was absolutely absurd. Next thing I know I'm picking up culty vibes and to be quite honest after reading her book, "Hide" I just felt like oh, here we go again.

I stuck with it and the pace started picking up and it piqued my interest again in the last third- but I was really annoyed and disappointed with the direction the story had gone. The pacing, the direction of the story, the decisions of the protagonist and all those around her were absolutely ABSURD half of the time. I just can't fathom how some of these things happened- like posting the fathers obituary/funeral details online?! come on.

It wasn't until I got to the acknowledgments and learned that I was correct in my assumption, Kiersten White was Mormon, and yes she did leave the religion and this work of fiction was a way of processing some of those feelings, that my brain filtered through the whole book with a new lens and I realized that, as a metaphor this book was actually really kind of beautiful.

Things I really enjoyed:
The cuts to the Internet forums/blogs
The imagination of the Mister Magic world
The farm
The ending

Things I didn't:
The pacing was off
The absolute refusal of literally everyone to tell Val anything at all- Which if she'd had ANY DETAILS AT ALL would have helped literally everyone?!
Val's instant feelings for a man that she honestly didn't know.
All of the characters repeatedly making the most bizarre choices. No adult would act this way.

I was so taken in by this quick paced horror thrill ride. I couldn't believe how transfixed I was by this dark and twisty book. It immediately draws you in and the author never quite let's you go. The book was an uncomfortable examination of how our childhood shows shape our values and morals that are ingrained on us in our youth. The author's own personal history with her religion and how it shaped her own childhood and impacted her adulthood influenced the themes of the book.

Mister Magic had such a compelling premise. It was very readable and held my attention through out. I did find that the ending was a little underdeveloped, but I still enjoyed it. I thought the religion/cult metaphor was really well done as well.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one and even after reading, I am still not 100% sure what I think. However, reading the author's note put some things in perspective. I had to go back and reread some parts to really get an understanding of what was happening.

Mister Magic is less the horror it claims to be and more of an eccentric trip of a book that will have your head whirling in a confused, almost trippy state. Like "Mister Magic/Magic Time/Magic Show" which has the characters grappling to grasp a whisper of tangible thought or even evidence that this show existed, the writing and storyline were vague enough to make the reader experience the same things the characters were achieve (and just an aside, most of these characters were horrible people which kind of made the book all the more entertaining and concerning?). Mister Magic is the kind of book you'll need to be in a specific headspace to truly appreciate, it's full of allegories and metaphors meant to confound you the way the show confounds the characters, it's very abstract and is meant to be an allusion to Kiersten White's own experiences and emotions towards certain religious events in her life. There are certain aspects Mister Magic succeeds in (leading the reader on a goose-chase into a very murky pond that will have you disoriented and questioning everything and feeling a creeping sense of dread) and parts it fails at (maximizing that dread and instead waters it down with cringey dialogue and an unsatisfying twist).

I really wanted to like this book and there are definitely parts of it that I enjoyed but overall the plot was not well conceived and I desired so much more from it.

I have enjoyed all of Kiersten's books that I've read, and this was no exception! This was very creepy and atmospheric.

Mister Magic was okay! I was really drawn in at first by the premise but by the end I just wasn’t satisfied. It’s about a woman who has lived on a ranch with her dad in hiding from a childhood she can’t remember. When some friends show up and tell her she was the leader of a friend group on a popular children’s show, she leaves with them to try to find answers. I like that between chapters we get emails, reddit threads, and other little tidbits to give us clues to what’s happening. There’s a lot of tension leading up to her finding the truth, but then it just kind of fizzles out? I didn’t understand the magic and the ending felt strange to me. I think it’s because the only people who could truly help her understand what happened (her parents) were unable to, so we’re only able to understand as much as she was. It’s kind of like you read the whole book and then look back and realize nothing really happened. I will say I get it’s a critique of the Mormon church, and I like that it’s explicit without going full on attack and preachy. I did really like Hide by this author, and I’ll read her again.

White’s writing creates a tense mood that aligns well with the novel's exploration of memory and fear. The plot unfolds with a series of revelations that gradually piece together the story, though it can feel somewhat predictable at times. The characters are distinct, each grappling with their own issues, but their development sometimes feels overshadowed by the overarching mystery.