About The Book
Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. Then a twist of fate brings the castmates back together at the remote desert filming compound that feels like it’s been waiting for them all this time. But as the Circle of Friends reclaim parts of their past, they begin to wonder: Are they here by choice, or have they been lured into a trap?
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/46hkQB0
My Rating
This book was nothing like I expected, but in the best possible way. I am a very big fan of Kiersten White’s writing style and her books always seem to captivate me. The premise of the book sounded unlike anything I had heard before. A group of childhood friends, who were on a television show together, come back years later to uncover hidden secrets about their beloved TV program. It is similar to Barney but with a supernatural twist.
The book mainly follows Val, who was one of the cast members of the children’s show ‘Mister Magic.’ She had disappeared years ago, and her disappearance was the reason behind the shows cancellation. Val is an unreliable narrator, since she has no memories of her time on ‘Mister Magic.’ However, I found that the rest of her cast members were also somewhat unreliable since their memories of the show were somewhat blurry.
The plot follows Val, as she decides to join five out of six former cast members to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary by doing a podcast that talks about the show. However, in truth, she is hoping to discover what actually happened all those years ago, and who the sixth-cast member really was. And let me tell you that the mystery aspect was done very well. Honestly, I had no idea who to trust or what was going to happen.
“Children accept absurdity because everything is absurd, everything made up of complex rules and systems that they don’t understand.”
The book was fast-paced, and it kept me engaged for the whole time. I needed to know what was going to happen! I loved seeing these former childhood friends reconnecting and forming bonds as adults. They all had their share of trauma, but I found the added found family element to be a nice touch in a thriller novel.
The only con I had with the book was a certain subject matter that I am not usually fond of in books, but to talk about it outright would be kind of spoiler-ish. All that I will say is that despite my usual distaste for this plot device, it had a remarkable lack of impact on my overall enjoyment of the book. Thus, it is nothing too earth shattering.
Overall, the supernatural element was a little weird, but I think the author did a good job by tying everything together. I did happen to figure out how the book was going to end, so, unfortunately, I was not too shocked at the outcome. However, there were a few twists that I did not see coming, and I think Kiersten White put quite some thought into the story. Although it fits more into the supernatural and magical realism category, so keep that in mind when picking it up.
In the comments, let me know what your favorite children’s show was. I was a ‘Blue’s Clues’ kid myself. Don’t forget to hit the follow button and like this post.
Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny