This one was an odd reading experience for me ... I kept feeling off-kilter as I read this one ... what the heck is happening and where in the world are we going are common things I felt as I read it. Ultimately, it came together for me but it was a bit abstract for me along the way. I do recommend it but I think knowing that going in may help you as you read it. Just go along with the ride, you're in good hands but know that there will be confusion and lots of unknowns during the journey. I really felt the author's note at the end helped tie it all together for me, seeing what the author was doing with this book. I think it helped truly bring it together for me. All in all, I really enjoyed it and am glad I read it but it won't be for everyone!

I don't know how to describe how much I loved this book. It was dark, surreal, surprisingly emotional, SCARY, and so different from any of the thrillers or horror I've read recently. A group of people who used to be on a very strange TV show are reunited and must face the past in order to move forward. This was like a dream - or a nightmare. I loved it and have recommended it to friends.

This one was fast paced and fun but I personally struggled seeing it to the end. I just felt no connection to the characters so didn’t really care the outcome of the book.

Have you heard of Mister Magic? You can remember the feelings and show but can never find an episode. So when a reunion documentary is being done, the Circle of Friends reunites to try and explain what they experienced. Mister Magic had a compelling plot and seemed to be skirting a great thriller but in some areas, it seemed slow and clunky. The ending was anticlimactic and was not wort the whole journey.

Former child stars on Mister Magic, a defunct children’s TV series with a cult-like following reconnect and travel to an eerie outpost somewhere in the Utah desert to record a long-awaited “reunion” podcast. Bonds formed in childhood trauma (not unlike those found in many of Stephen King's gripping stories like The Institute and Stand by Me) are tested, as the now adults are subjected once more to the place where the show was filmed—and where it came to an abrupt and tragic ending. Val, the main character, grapples with her own shifting and emerging memories, leading to more questions than answers as the story progresses. Ever uncertain of her former friends’ motivations and with no options to leave a place that only becomes increasingly surreal and menacing, Val must battle to sort out what and who is real.

Sinister forces of the very human kind (religious trauma and childhood abuse) offer emotional complexity that will resonate with fans of literary horror. Nostalgia, horror, and psychological suspense come together in a triumph of a novel.

If you're a fan of Stephen King's The Institute and AMC's mind-bending series Channel Zero, then you will be happy to plant yourself down somewhere and tune into Kiersten White's Mister Magic.

This book snuck up on me. It was eerie and fantastical. And I loved it. You spend the majority of the book from the POV of Val, the one child from the circle that cannot remember anything concrete from her childhood on the show. Therefore you get to learn along with her. An often frustrating process, but also intercut with other little glimpses into this potential evil and its impact. This book never veered too far into ‘scary’ horror, instead letting the imagination fill in the gaps, making it all feel more unsettling. The overarching analogy in the end, while heavy handed, totally worked for me.
All the thanks to the publisher and NG for the copy. A wonderful edition to my October reads.

Set in a large, creepy house out in the middle of nowhere, Mister Magic follows Val and her former castmates in the present day. Thirty years before, they were part of a children’s show that, once off the air, vanished without a single trace of its existence online. It is rumored that a tragedy ended the show, and Val is determined to get to the bottom of it. However, no one could imagine what Val and the group would uncover at the center of this mystery.

Mister Magic is a fever dream of a romp through a splintered past that Val is desperately trying to piece together. While it is slow-paced for about 75% of the book, the possible horror looming around every corner is engaging and paranoia-inducing. The last section really takes off with a lot of moving parts, adding to the weird atmosphere present throughout the book (and in a lot of our favorite IRL childhood shows, to be honest).

The characters were thoughtfully written with care, an element that can sometimes get lost in thrillers. I really enjoyed the extra pieces of media included in the story, like podcast transcripts, online discussions, emails, and blog posts.

Ultimately, Mister Magic is an odd thriller with complex themes that will leave readers in contemplation long after the book is over. Definitely worth picking up, especially during spooky season.

This is a book where I wish the Acknowledgments had been at the start of the book. When I finished the book, and thought about what I'd rate it, I was thinking a solid 3-3 1/2. But those last few pages reframed the story for me so much and made me appreciate it more. When you are a child, choices are made for you and can lead to many great things, but those choices (particularly around religion) can have negative impact and influence

The story follows 5 adults who had been on a TV show "Mister Magic" when they were kids. After a tragic accident on set, the show stopped and the child actors went about their lives. Now 30 years, later there is no evidence that the show existed, except in memories, and the 5 friends reunite in the town where the show was filmed to participate in a podcast about the show. So many people remember the show, the actors included, but is what the remember real, or imagined?

I liked the format that included interludes of the outside world's musings about the show mixed with Val's narrative and memory recollections. I was also left thinking about the shows I remember loving as a kid (Zoobilee Zoo anyone?).

An extraordinary oddity! Eerie and disturbing, filled to the brim with unnerving aspects both human and unnatural. Not exactly a whodunnit but this read offers the same thriller type excitement, you just can't wait to know more. What is the true cost of the childhood magic we grasp for, reaching into the darkness to pull out just a sliver of the kind of happy that we once were. (Or thought we were.) Nostalgia is tricky and so are memories. Friendship, hardship, and an omnipresent guy in a cape that will keep the children in perfectly, harmonious state of "good." Kiersten White twirls a tale of tragically, magical proportions. One you will be hard pressed to forget. Don't say his name ....

It’s spooky season here for me, so I’m gobbling up all the creepy horror books I can to make sure I’m in the mood – and this book delivers!

On the surface, Mister Magic is about the nostalgia of childhood and the reunion of a children’s television show that went off the air as mysteriously as it was beamed into children’s bedrooms. But at its heart, it’s also a deeply personal story based on the author’s own experiences in a fringe sect of a major religion. I love that White went there, but this element makes rating the novel an intensely difficult prospect. So, I’ll just say that reading it is an emotional experience that also delivers excellent creepy vibes. It reminds me a bit of the feeling you get from watching the little girl in front of the tv in Poltergeist... My thanks to Random House Publishing and the author for providing this e-arc for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the ARC!

“It meets The Stepford Wives in this wildly compelling story that explores whether it’s possible to recapture the magic of childhood.”

I feel like this was reminiscent of something that could’ve happened on an old Nickelodeon or Disney Channel show that I used to watch in middle school, and I lived for it.

Mister Magic is about a nostalgia podcast that brings together the last group of child actors who were on a beloved children's show that ended abruptly, and tragically, but seems to have left no physical trace of itself. Even after 30 years the circle of friends don't really know the truth.

I found the story as a whole to be a bit slow. It is tense, and leaves you questioning what exactly is going on, but it doesn't really ever deliver a true scary, or horror feel. After reading the acknowledgements at the end, I get what the author was going for, pulling from real life experience inside a very strict religious community. Ultimately I don't think it became the story the blurb set us up for. It was interesting, and I wanted to know more about Mister Magic, and what happened, but the book didn't really fully engage me with that world.

Five former child stars once known as the ‘circle of friends’ reunite 30 years after the show they were on ended. The show was called Mister Magic and it ended due to a tragic accident. Fans of the show have vivid memories of the show and the lessons they learned from it but strangely there are no surviving videos of the show, no records of who filmed or worked on it, nothing.

Even though the friends haven't seen each other in decades, they feel as of they understand each other more than anyone they have met since. After all, they are the only ones who hold the secrets of the show and its mysterious host.

The beginning of this book really grabbed my attention with its interesting and complex characters. But unfortunately, I started to feel a bit lost as the story progressed. I wish I had read the author's note prior to reading the book, I read it after I finished and it did help me to understand and appreciate the story much more.

The cover of this book gave me Poltergeist vibes. I thought this was a creepy and interesting read! While I enjoyed it, I was definitely confused for a lot of it. I had to reread sentences a couple times. But I loved the abstract and the cult vibes!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC

I tried incredibly hard to attach to this book, but unfortunately it ended up not being for me. I’m grateful for the opportunity and hope it continues to find the right readers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. This one wasn’t for me! I thought it was really slow and boring.

Mandala effect or just plain brainwashing? And the author's note...(not to reader, DO NOT READ THAT UNTIL THE END).
This is a reunion to end all reunions. Getting back together after 30 years can be daunting to people who remembered what was going on, but if you don't? Well, you be the judge.
Good story, Some spooky stuff going on in that house for sure! Do you actually remember the lyrics to the shows you loved as a child or maybe you just reimagined them in your own head?

I have read Kiersten White's other book Hide, which was a great book, so I was excited to read Mister Magic. The premise is a group of adults were on a TV show as kids and the main character doesn't remember being on it, but then she and the others are brought back to be interviewed about their experience. What follows is crazy and sad and the ending is definitely worth it. This wasn't horror, but it did have a creepy feel to it all throughout.

This book was really good in the beginning, but over time just fell and I found myself zoning out.

I thought the idea was amazing and intriguing! A weird show having been lost to the internet, but the public has it still planted in their brains?! Crazy!
I spent a good amount of the book begging for it to get more creepy and spooky and nothing happened.
Not awful just fine.

𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖 | 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
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Thank you @netgalley and @delreybooks for the advanced copy! Officially out now 🎉📺
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Everyone has a favorite childhood show. You have all the nostalgia but can’t remember anything about the show. When you search it, nothing comes up. It’s been 30 yrs since the show shut down. Was it just an urban legend? Until all the former cast is brought together in a weird twist of events..
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I FLEW through the first half of the book in one sitting. I loved our female MC, Val. White did an amazing job surrounding the story around her. I enjoyed the secondary characters just as much! I would’ve loved to read more about them.
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𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, the second half of the book didn’t have that spooky drive White is known for. I’d label this more of a paranormal thriller more than horror. I was expecting to be scared, creeped out, and/or uncomfortable. But it didn’t live up to the horror potential for me.
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Overall, it was an okay read! I enjoyed the interviews and forum reads in between. It definitely helped with the eeriness oh the TV show. If you read the author’s acknowledgement in the end it’ll explain the direction of the ending. Definitely add this author to your horror TBR pile 👏🏽 𝗛𝗜𝗗𝗘 is one of my all time favorites!