I really enjoyed this author’s book, Hide, last year. But this one seriously confounded me….UNTIL reading the Acknowledgements at the end revealed that this is a deeply personal allegory of the author’s experience, trauma and exit from the Mormon church. Ahhhh, now it’s starting to make sense! When read from that vantage point, I could wrap my brain around all that was happening and my confusion became admiration for the genius this author brought into the literary world. Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing-Ballantine, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on August 8, 2023

I was really excited about this book but felt like it was a little bit of a let down. Mister Magic was a show for children - here one minute and gone the next. Decades later the last 6 children that appeared on the show return to make a podcast about their experiences. Sinister things come to light as they hang out together with old memories that have been hidden returning.

I felt that this was a pretty see through book. There was nothing subtle about it and while that works in a slasher film it doesn't do well in a book that is supposed to be a thriller. I could end up being in the minority here but this one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC of this title.

This is the Candle Cove creepypasta meets the video of Jamie Lee Curtis saying "trauma" during the Halloween press tour. If you know what any of that means, use that as a guide for whether you'll like this or not. If you don't know what any of that means: think _It_ and _The Stepford Wives_, with some modern media twists and none of That One Scene From The Book Version of It.

This is the sort of thrill ride horror novel I love to rip through in a few sittings - there's enough of a sense of where things are going to keep it moving along, with some fresh twists and turns. The author's note at the end was a nice confirmation at what the inspiration behind some of the themes of the book were. 4.5/5 stars

This cult like supernatural thriller had my head spinning. Creepy vibes, eerie rhymes, and an overall uneasy feeling followed me even when I wasn’t reading. Kind of like the characters in the book who lived their lives but always had Mister Magic in the back of their minds.
This children’s tv show cast is having a reunion. They are invited back to the creepy house in the middle of the desert to be interviewed for a podcast. Main character Val doesn’t even remember being part of the show until other cast members find where she’s been hiding out. Val needs answers and goes with them to get them but what she finds is that she hid away these memories because they were part of a horrible past.

Social media threads were spread out the novel with a cult like following. There’s no evidence the show existed but everyone remembers it.
When the past and present day come together Val and her childhood friends find themselves living in the nightmare of Mister Magic.

After reading about the author’s upbringing I understand better that this story was one she had to tell therapeutically.

So strange, so weird.

After loving The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and enjoying Hide from this author in the past, I was excited to check out her latest adult horror/thriller.

The premise of this book really intrigued me. You're following a former child actress reuniting with her castmates from the strange, elusive children's program called Mister Magic. The lore around Mister Magic was the most interesting aspect to me - nobody can remember the show, and when people post about it online, the posts will disappear. It's a sort of Mandelean-enigma.

While the concept was very interesting to me, especially after completing the book and understanding that White was telling a story mirroring her own religious deconstruction, the execution didn't fully land for me. Much of the book felt abstract, which was likely the intention given the framing of the story, but I found myself feeling frustrated that I was feeling so removed from the story. The ending also didn't quite work for me, but I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this story and thought it was an interesting idea.

More of a 2.5 rounded up to a 3.

Featured in this reading vlog: https://youtu.be/qxbBqvbnRDU?t=1018

I'm not sure where to start with this review, considering Mister Magic was so unlike anything I've ever read before. It has such a unique premise that I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. All I know is that I loved it.

Mister Magic centers around Val, a woman who has lived most of her life isolated on a ranch in Idaho. Following the death of her father, she is reacquainted with a past she has completely forgotten. It turns out she was a cast member of a long-running but very mysterious children's program called Mister Magic. She has no recollection of this at all and now must go on a journey to discover the horrible secrets that led to the shows cancelation.

I found the themes addressed in this book so compelling. The look into organized religion and the ways they're molding children into their idea of morality and the overall damage this can cause.

This was such an excellent and thought-provoking book. I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Overall I enjoyed this book. The message was good and once I got to the end I really liked it but the first half of the book was very disorienting. While I know that was done intentionally, as a reader it was very hard to settle into the story when I was so confused. Because the narration had a disorienting, confused perspective from the moment old friends showed up at her father's funeral, it was hard to understand what she wanted beyond answers. This made her a good surrogate for the reader, except that it was clear she had blocked things out from the very beginning. That made her even less reliable and were it not for one email from Jenny early on I would have had no idea that anything sinister was truly at play until the very end. The end did redeem some of this and give a sense of satisfaction, especially because I enjoy the exploration of this type of trauma, but a little more grounding early on I would have liked it more.

Mister Magic" is a children's show, but nobody has a clear idea about the concept, title, or image of Mister Magic. The only concrete thing about the show is that six children stand in a circle in a black room, saying magic words, throwing a cape up into the air, and waiting for Mister Magic's appearance. The suspense is the key factor why everyone cannot take their eyes off the screen.

What does Mister Magic really look like? He is tall, enormous, all arms and legs, either a person or a puppet. Everyone agrees that they have never seen his face.Even the theme song of the show is enough to make people's hair stand up. A tragic accident occurs with the shutdown of the show without any surviving video. There is no evidence of who the director, producer, or host was. Only five children survived, moving on with their lives with different memories.

Now, those children who became adults are ready to reunite for the show’s Anniversary. They find themselves in a remote desert filming compound, trying to fill the blank spaces of their deteriorating memories and confronting the secrets to find the identity of Mr. Magic.

I honestly had a hard time understanding the book but the autho’s note did help on that. The characters were unreliable the [pacing was a bit wobbly. But well…Overall, it was an intelligent yet weird experience. It’s not one of my favorite works by the author, but it was still something.

This book hooked me from page one and never let go! I couldn’t put it down! For anyone who wants the nostalgia of 80’s/90’s TV shows and looking back at childhood memories through grownup eyes.

This was creepy in the way that Goosebumps is creepy. It didn't help that I kept picturing Bing Bong from Inside Out as Mister Magic, since there was never really a description of him. I still liked it though.

Mister Magic is a book about a children's TV show that unexpectedly ended and there is no record of the show anywhere online. Thirty years later, the cast members come back together for a podcast reunion. In between each chapter are message boards and theories about the show since people remember the show but there's no record anywhere. Val is one of the children and she does not remember the show, she just knows that her father has raised her hidden away at a ranch with a lot of paranoia. When the other children show up, Val's whole life changes and she goes to the reunion to find answers.

Firstly, this book has an amazing cover and the premise sounded so interesting. I was really excited to try this out since I have not read a book by Kiersten White before. However, this book did not work for me. The whole thing was just weird, and not in a good way. It was really slow up until like 80%. I was sitting there thinking, "When will all of these questions be answered?" Eventually they were but not in a way that left me satisfied. I was so confused throughout and it just didn't work. None of the characters seemed like real people. It was like everyone was so stereotypical and just fit into archetypes. Another thing that bothered me was that everyone was scared the whole time but no one did anything about it. Like Val had this bad feeling about everything but never acted on it. It was just a weird book and I did not like it.

This book had a lot of potential but unfortunately it did not work for me. After reading the author's note at the end, it was clear that this book was trying to focus on religious trauma but it just didn't work as a thriller/horror. I have seen other great reviews on this one so I think it works for other people so I think it is still worth trying.

I will try other White books and hope that I like them in the future!

Thanks so much to netgalley and RandomHouse for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

If you were a fan of HIDE by Kiersten White, you will probably be a fan of this next novel of hers, and if you didn't then you probably won't. It's horror without being scary or gory (which is honestly about as "horror" as I prefer to go into the genre). She honestly could have dialed the creepy and scary factor up about 10 levels and I would still be able to sleep fine at night. It isn't huge on character development, although there is a little growth there with our MC and side characters. It's short and quick! (3.75 out of 5).

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Did not particularly care for this book. I was attracted to it initially by the premise of a Mandela-effect-like plot, but characters were not interesting and not particularly interested in the Mormon-church allegories.

I’m begging you to read the prologue and tell me you aren’t hooked! This book has a creepy children’s show with a mysterious host, the Mandela Effect, and cult vibes - ahhh I loved it all!!

Our main character Val was part of the Circle of Friends on Mister Magic, but she has no memory of her time spent on the show. So once she’s reunited with the others, she’s trying to figure out what actually happened on the show. Do the friends know more than they are willing to share with Val? It’s all a creepy mystery where you don’t know who to trust or what to believe.

Highly recommend this one if you are looking for a suspenseful mystery that will absolutely creep you out!

This is a really difficult book to review because the things that worked well worked really well and the things that didn't really, really didn't. The author's note was probably the most interesting part of the whole book... make of that what you will.

I enjoyed the pacing and the tension. White knows how to craft a story where every bit of information you receive feels unreliable and I was definitely kept guessing throughout the book. I was invested in the plot for the majority of the story, even once I was beginning to feel uncertain how it would all come together in the end. And while I was never so spooked that I needed to put it down, I was definitely very uncomfortable at times, which is exactly what you want in a thriller imo.

As for what I didn't like, this feels like a case where things that work well in theory DID actually work well, but didn't make for an enjoyable read. Things like emotionally stunted and one-note characters. Do those things make sense considering these adults are dealing with childhood trauma and are in the situation they are in purely because of those one-note qualities? Yes! Makes perfect sense! Does that make for an engaging and interesting cast? Not so much. Does the author have a very important message to convey that packs a hard punch? Absolutely. Does that message vibe well with a psychological thriller? Maybe not so much.

All in all, I liked the journey, but felt disappointed by the ending. I'm glad I gave this read a chance and I'll still give White's adult novels another try in the future.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for review.

Mister Magic was a children’s television show that ended 30 years ago after a tragic accident. While the remaining children went on with their lives, nothing could replace the joy they felt while on the show. Strange enough there are no recordings of the show and no one knows just who Mister Magic was. All the cast mates, known as the circle of friends, has are their memories. Although they haven’t seen each other for years a reunion podcast brings them back to the desert town where the show was recorded. As the reunion takes place, they realize that maybe their memories aren’t what they seem and maybe the show was more sinister than they thought.

This felt like an absolute fever dream! I went into this expecting the unexpected because her last book I read, Hide, was a wild ride and Kiersten White did it again. Sometimes I wonder how these authors come up with these elaborate tales that entertain and enlighten us. After reading this you must read the acknowledgments by the author and you will see her inspiration and how she weaves this tale with her own past.

A strange, unique and very good plot. The mystery was intriguing and kept me guessing.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

my rating is more like a 2.5 star?? this book was so much more bizarre than i was expecting. i don’t think i even processed what happened lol. i have weird feelings on this book because i don’t necessarily even dislike it, it just didn’t really meet my expectations. much more slow, existential, and strange than i was expecting. the concept of this book (and cover) are really what intrigued me: the mysterious kid’s show Mister Magic that no one seems to have concrete evidence of existing. there are no recordings of it that can be accessed, and there’s weird lore surrounding it. i liked that premise, and i also liked the “web pages” that looked like online forums and Wikipedia pages. there wasn’t too much plot—you’re just following Val, the main character, who was a child star on that show. she doesn’t remember anything about it, and 30 years later, is trying to get answers from her cast mates about why the show abruptly ended and the mysterious accident that supposedly happened on set. what kept me reading was the allure of finding out who Mister Magic was. i wasn’t in it for the characters or plot necessarily. even though i’m giving this 2.5 stars, i didn’t even dislike reading this book until the last 15% or so. i was admittedly skimming at that point because it was just way too out there for my liking. the ending was extremely bizarre. i also didn’t feel any palpable horror or tension in the story, except near the end a bit (even if it was chaotic and strange, the pace was noticeably faster towards the end).

i also thought the main characters spoke way too much like teenagers when they were supposed to be in their late 30s-40s. they would say things that they thought were profound, but weren’t really. i guess one can argue that they were emotionally stunted because of their traumas from the show, but their patterns of speech just read very young. apparently this was also a criticism in the author’s last book, hide, which i have not read. the characters also seemed so two-dimensional. i’m wondering if that was intentional on the author’s part for *reasons* but even so, it’s just my personal preference to have complex characters that feel like real people. the side-characters/“bad guys” were so cartoonishly evil, too. i personally like more nuance with my characters. i didn’t believe in the main characters’ relationships, really, and there was a hint of romance thrown in there (which i don’t really care for in a horror or thriller book).

i do want to mention that this is a book about dealing with religious trauma, and that was not included in the premise/marketing AT ALL, so it really threw me for a loop. here i was, wanting a story about a potentially cursed kid’s TV show, but getting that as a metaphor for deconstructing your belief system. i think that you can’t understand the book without knowing that (and i’m not even sure i fully *got* the book lol). i appreciate the author’s note at the end since this story is obviously very personal to her. it’s a bummer that i didn’t really care for this book because it’s the first one that i’ve read from her.

i would recommend this if you like…
🔮abstract/weird horror
😇discussions of morality and reality
📺children’s tv show nostalgia
🚸discussions of raising children
⛪️religious undertones

Mister Magic comes out August 8. thank you to Del Rey and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

White never disappoints. She articulates the most nuanced difficulties and gives them a language of their own. The first half of the book will have you grasping at something just out of reach, and the ending. Well, it's not quite what you expect. A gripping page turner I devoured in days. Highly recommend.

I absolutely adored Mister Magic.

It is mostly the story of Val, a woman who lives a restricted existence on a horse ranch with her father. When her father passes away unexpectedly and she receives three unexpected visitors following his funeral, she is given a massive shock. Not only do the three men who came to find her know her well, but she had also starred with them on a once-popular television show that no one can find documented evidence of.

Val’s dealings with the men-Isaac, Marcus and Javi-and her eventual reunion with fellow cast-member Jenny are interspersed with snippets from obsessed Mister Magic fans collected from various type of forums, commentaries and fanfiction websites that help to foster that comfortable nostalgia that idealized memories of childhood can create. As Val tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding a past she can’t recall, she and the rest of her Circle of Friends remain isolated in an unusual house for the purpose of recording a podcast relating to Mister Magic.

But the more Val digs, the more she comes to realize that Mister Magic is more than a mere television show and that there are those who would do anything to have Mister Magic make his
triumphant return to educate…and mold a new generation of children.

All for the benefit of the children, of course

Of course.

What could have been a simple story of an unusual television show and its five former stars trying to unravel its mystery became a study how the supposed “best” intentions of adults and parents could lead to trauma in their children. That an emphasis on what is considered “good,” could be irrevocably damaging when forcing children into roles that subsume their true selves for the sake of simplicity and conformity.

I’d rather not spoil too much, but Mister Magic was an engrossing and layered story that was very relatable and slightly bittersweet in its ending. It was not what I was initially expecting when I started reading it, but I am grateful that I was able to do so.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I will be posting my review on my linked Goodreads and on Instagram accounts on July 23,2023.