A November Double Book Review

 
From Barry Lee Dejasu

Not Quite Horror, but Still Quite Good

Kiersten White – Mister Magic

Reviewed by Barry Lee Dejasu

First off, let it be known that I really enjoyed Kiersten White’s 2023 novel Mister Magic. I’m glad that I finally picked up a copy and read it, but a lot of the hype—and subsequently, the genre that it was purported to be—left me a little disappointed with the kind of book that it turned out to be.

Mister Magic follows Val, a woman reeling from the sudden death of her father. At his funeral, she is approached by three men who are showing their condolences, because they all seem to know her…but she doesn’t recall ever having met them. They reveal that, with her, they had all been stars of Mister Magic, a children’s TV show in the 1980s, showcasing how the imagination holds power—but not nearly as great as the power of friendship. But why can’t Val remember them, or having been on the show? Why can’t she even recall anything of her childhood? And, as hinted at in online posts, discussions, and articles interspersed between chapters—why does the entire show’s very existence seem to have been erased from the public eye? A suspenseful and at times surreal mystery unfolds, taking turn after turn into a labyrinth illuminated by the glow of TV static.

I was invested in the characters and the unfolding layers of secrets and revelations, and impressed with the swift pace, the strange environment (much of it takes place in a six-story house sitting completely on its own in the middle of a desert, with doorless rooms awash in the light of television screens), and the increasingly uncanny mystery at its heart. Punchy dialogue, surreal scenes and motifs, and a very authentic feeling of nostalgia ran throughout it. There were also a few genuinely creepy sequences, which definitely had the horror fan in me perking up.

Some reviews compared the novel to such works as Dathan Auerbach’s Penpal and films such as Sinister, and while I can see the similarities, and although it was an intriguing and suspenseful tale of childhood mystery and eerie revelations on grainy video tapes, it’s not quite the horror novel that I had been hoping it would be.

Lightning Flashes Against a Dark Sky

Stephen King – Revival

Reviewed by Barry Lee Dejasu

Stephen King is kind of an evergreen source of fine literature. For decades, he has continually pumped out one or three books a year, creating so many very popular entries in the horror genre that even those most avoidant of the genre stand a chance at being able to name a few works of fiction—or films, or television shows—that originated in King’s mind. So it is that no matter how many books from as many authors that I buy and read every year, there’s always a library of King’s works available to read—and every time I crack open one of them, it’s like going in for a warm hug from an old friend.

Since its release in 2014, his novel Revival has orbited my bookshelves and to-be-read stacks, silently waiting for me to finally pick it up. Well, that time finally came this October, and what I got from it was a tale that simultaneously defied my expectations and proved to be exactly what I’d expect from a King novel: a big, suspenseful story, a set of very richly-depicted characters, and an intimate narrative that warms—and at times, downright breaks—the heart. And oh, yes…it’s quite unsettling.

This is the narrative of Jamie Morton, an older man looking back at his life, from when he was little onward, through all sorts of milestone events, from family issues to his first love, discovering his love of playing music to his years spent in rock bands, discussions about faith to drug addictions, and the curiosities of living to the terrifying possibilities of death. And throughout all of this, starting when he was six years old, Jamie’s life is inexorably intertwined with that of a Reverend Charles Jacobs, a genuinely kind and caring man with an ongoing penchant for the creation—and application—of electrical devices…

I’d perked up when I heard Revival brought up in several conversations about books that genuinely scared people, and while I can absolutely see the horror elements of it getting to someone, it turned out to not quite be the kind of tale that belongs in the darker spots of bookshelves featuring such terrifying works of his as Pet Sematary (1983) or It (1986). It was a more personally-driven tale that brings to mind his 1998 novel Bag of Bones. (I also need to mention that I was also moved to tears a number of times while reading this, for reasons that are best left experienced by future readers. King is a veteran of playing heartstrings like a well-tuned guitar, and this novel is a perfect showcase for his knack.)

But don’t expect this book to be free of the King of Horror’s dark touch—this big, emotional tale slowly but steadily darkens like oncoming storm clouds over a previously sunny day…and what awaits in the heart of the storm is most definitely horrific, with some shockingly nightmarish sequences that unfold at its climax, leaving behind a truly haunting revelation that will, very fittingly, follow close behind me for the rest of my life.

A story of tragedy, mystery, hope, music, and life and death, Revival is definitive King, and easily ranks among his very best works.