SYNOPSIS: Mr Magicov makes a living by entertaining the old folks of Christchurch after a children’s party once went drastically awry and irrevocably altered his career path. Kate Minola, a magician’s daughter, is a career confidence trickster on the run from the FBI. When their paths unexpectedly cross, Kate promises Peter (Magicov) revenge on his own nemesis, and a share of a million pounds – but can he really trust a woman who has spent her life specialising in the long con?

THOUGHTS: This book would make a great movie, with its quick-witted characters and parallel storylines which neatly converge halfway through then dive headlong into a police chase with the ‘heroes’ always one step ahead. I was more interested in the first half where the characters were introduced and developed, and was intrigued to see how Dr. Tavasligh’s experiments with memory would fit in. As the story progressed it all became more and more action-film guessable: there were no new plot twists to uncover, just the extrapolation & denouement of those already introduced, alongside the will-she-won’t-she element of whether or not Kate will cheat Peter of his revenge and/or cash and/or love.

I found Brill’s writing, wit and imagery more entertaining at the beginning: “The house itself, a post-war, post-aesthetic, postbox pile of red brick, straight lines, enormous picture windows and exposed gutters, was not only detached, it was positively aloof.” As the action and pace increased, Brill spent less time on constructing playful and vivid bits of imagery and more time on one-liners and witty wisecracks to keep his story moving, which was less to my taste (and did begin to grate a little).

From the jacket blurb, I expected to read more about Dr. Tavasligh’s memory experiments but this turned out to be a classic example of misdirection and in the end, Tavasligh was relegated to footnotes in the main story of Peter and Kate which was a true action-adventure romp with the obligatory romantic interest. It includes all the essential ingredients from the no-nonsense, beautiful, untrustworthy heroine, to the ‘evil baddie’ of Titus Black (who yearns to be capable of mind-control) to the (somewhat stereotyped) ‘light relief’ of Black’s ham-fisted-yet-eloquent henchmen. The odd cliche aside, this is an enjoyable diversion, which kept me just interested enough to reach the end. It wasn’t what I had initially expected, and when I realised that, I still hoped for an extra twist or an extra ‘something’; but at the end of the day it was simply a good bit of entertainment that didn’t really stand out as much as it had the potential to.

I almost read this once, but it passed out of my hands before I had a chance to. Thanks for the review - sounds like fun if not deep.

tolly18:

I almost read this once, but it passed out of my hands before I had a chance to. Thanks for the review - sounds like fun if not deep.

Yes, it's definitely a good bit of light entertainment.  I think my husband will like it, so he will have custody of my copy for a while.

 

I posted the above review to my blog, and have just received a comment on it from Marius Brill himself!   I was slightly scared when I saw his name as my review, though even-handed, does include some minor criticism - but his response was remarkably gracious: "I agree the first half was more what I intended at heart, but as things developed I was haunted by my urge for action and narrative drive so, yes, there is a noticeable shift in gear."  (see link above for full comment)

After that little bit of personal interaction, I am definitely now feeling more inclined to try his earlier novel, Making Love, so...good bit of PR there, Marius!