Mister Magic

Thirty years after a tragic accident, five former child stars of a mysterious children's show reunite at their old filming compound, uncovering dark secrets about their enigmatic host and the show's final day.
Again, not a book that I would recommend for just everybody. At its core, it exposes the cult indoctrination in the guise of religion. More specifically, it addresses the specific "rules" for being "good" little children versus "bad" children. We already know that the good children become productive members of whatever their close-knit society is...while bad children either leave. or live on the outskirts of that same society...usually shunned and alone.

How the society that this author has created teaches its value system and show more indoctrinates its new members is chilling and otherworldly, for lack of a better word. Kiersten White has masterfully evoked your memory of some television show you loved from childhood...everybody has one. At the same time, she makes you remember and perhaps question the "messages" that you may have learned from that show...even some that you haven't thought of in years. Suddenly, shows like "3-2-1 Contact", "Electric Company", and even "Sesame Street" and "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" become a little more on the sinister side in your mind, when you begin to think about their methods and the lessons you may have learned and carried into adulthood.

She also doesn't hesitate to tell us that "Mister Magic" is very personal for her. It represents her experiences, subsequent issues with, and struggles to break from a certain church, that I will refrain from naming...she does describe her experience without mentioning any evil entities. But the trauma she endured at the hands of that church of her childhood infiltrates itself throughout the story. You can sense it throughout the characters, and it adds a heaviness that adds to the tension. The story is almost like she wrote it as a try for an exorcism of her own childhood "ghosts". I hope she was successful.

"Mister Magic" can only be described as psychological horror at its best. Ms. White captures her complicated history with the church while telling a horror story about a children's television program. It is a story that only someone with this authors' background could tell. Actually, I found that the fact that the story is so personal only made it even scarier.

This will not appeal to anyone that is deeply religious. I'm not deeply religious but I was disturbed enough by the content to only give it 3 stars. Not in any way is it a BAD story and certainly not a badly written story, but it's a story that a future reader needs to go into with a great deal of care. show less

Kiersten White has a devious mind, and I love her for it. More importantly, I love the books she writes with that mind. They are always disturbing, always full of twists, and always unexpected. Mister Magic has all of that, but there is pain and trauma written between each sentence that sets it apart from Ms. White's previous novels.

At its core, Mister Magic is the exposure of cult indoctrination in the guise of religious tenets. More specifically, it addresses the specific rules for being "good" children versus "bad" children. Good children become productive members of their close-knit society; bad children either leave or live on the outskirts of that society, shunned and alone.

How this society teaches its value system and show more indoctrinates new members is chilling and otherworldly. Ms. White masterfully evokes the nostalgia of remembering a beloved television show from childhood. At the same time, she makes you question the messages you learned from that show. Suddenly, shows like 3-2-1 Contact, Electric Company, and even Sesame Street and Mister Roger's Neighborhood become more sinister in their methodology and lessons.

Ms. White does not hesitate to tell anyone that Mister Magic is very personal. For her, it represents her experiences, subsequent issues with, and struggles to break from the Mormon church - albeit without an evil entity. The trauma Ms. White endured at the hands of the church of her childhood infiltrates the story. Not overt, you sense it rather than experience it through the characters, and it embues each scene with a heaviness that adds to the tension.

Mister Magic is psychological horror at its finest. Ms. White captures her complicated history with the Mormon church while telling a horror story about children's programming. It is a story only someone as talented as Ms. White could tell. Somehow, the fact that the story is personal makes it even scarier. While it isn't quite spooky season yet, Mister Magic will tide you over until it is. show less

I loved this, and it's mostly because I have been deconstructing evangelicalism. The genre is one of my favorites too, a bit horror/thriller/paranormal. But the themes are so tied to breaking generational traumas, treating your children as actual humans, and breaking away from harmful beliefs, it really hit home. There were a few jump scares theme-wise where I was questioning the intentions of the story, but I am happy with the resolution. The characters are great too.

I received this as an e-arc via Net Galley for review.

This book gave me Stepford vibes, but for children. I really enjoyed it. It was creepy and disturbing in the way that everything just felt "off" or not quite right. This is by far my favorite type of horror - seemingly normal situations that just don't feel right.

The incorporation of a long-forgotten children's show was great. We all have that one show that we can barely recall and no one else remembers seeing, and we start to think that maybe we just made it up?

I thought the characters were interesting and fleshed out. I didn't grow up in a religious household, so this book didn't resonate fully with me, but I appreciate it from a horror standpoint. I could tell that this book was show more deeply personal for the author and helped her work through her own trauma and I hope that it helps other people too.

Finally, the chapter titles are perfection. I love when authors have fun like that. show less

Mister Magic is is an engaging horror/mystery novel built around a now-cancelled children's program, "Mister Magic," that ended abruptly, with a disaster of some sort that no one now talks about. The program had a huge following, many people remember growing up feeling comforted by the presence of the six friends featured on the program. But... no one can find any hard evidence that this program ever existed. No YouTube videos, no news clippings—despite its being remembered by millions.

Now, a podcast featuring the cast is about to air, with rumors that the show will be revived if the podcast draws a large enough audience. Four of the children who starred on the show remember it wistfully as the happiest time of their lives. A fifth show more former member of the cast remembers nothing at all about the program. The sixth is nowhere to be found—the disaster that ended the show was her disappearance. The novel simmers steadily, creating an ongoing sense of dis-ease that never lets up, but also doesn't peak much.

Mister Magic is a horror/mystery novel, but more than that it's an examination of memory, childhood, and child-rearing. If you only want to be terrified, Mister Magic may disappoint, but if you like horror that leaves you with complicated ideas to ponder, this is a title you'll want to keep an eye out for. I read this title in a single day, which I suspect will be true of many other readers. It creates an atmosphere of menace that pulls one along—a menace that makes one one want to journey through it. The best word for this experience, I suppose, is *compelling.* Start reading and you won't want to stop, even if the roller-coaster narrative doesn't have all that many sudden drops and turns.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less

“Magic never forgets the taste of your friendship.”

This is a dark little story. Val is living a quiet life, the one she's lived as long as she can remember, taking care of a farm and teaching kids to ride horses. But when her father suddenly passes away, she learns there was so much more to her childhood that she doesn't remember. Why doesn't she remember?

I was instantly sucked in to this story. The creepy unease through out the beginning was well-paced and perfectly eerie. The lack of doors, the odd hum, all of it raised the hair on my arms. I loved the mystery of the magic and the twists we took to get the answers.

The author's note really does fully bring this one home for me. I loved it on its own but understanding the show more inspiration helped me draw parallels I hadn't while reading and made me love it even more. I just might re-read this one, maybe as an audio, so I can see with eyes that know the answers.

I just love [a:Kiersten White|3027554|Kiersten White|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1664146111p2/3027554.jpg]'s recent horror and will definitely add her to the autobuy! I can't wait for our next read! show less

I requested this from NetGalley because of how much I enjoyed another of Kiersten White's novels several years ago, but alas this did very little for me.

Readers familiar with internet creepypasta will recognize the premise of Mister Magic as a take on the "Candle Cove" story—an old children's show that sticks in people's memories but isn't well recorded, sinister or just plain strange depending on who is doing the remembering. Like many scary stories, its strength is in its ambiguity—attempts to expand or conclude the story fall flat, especially because they take the tone from understated realism to explicit fantasticism. The possibility of horror is more effective than any horror in particular.

While I wouldn't say White's take is show more unambiguous—I was pretty confused about what was going on pretty much the whole time—it fails in similar ways. Frankly, it just wasn't very scary. I wish White had either kept the tone more grounded and let the horror elements hide in the background or else embraced the horror-fantasy concept and ditched any attempts to ground the story in believability. As is, I felt very aware that I was reading a story and that the story wasn't very good. show less