Now You See It - An arcane work of suspense that makes readers dizzy.
Written: Jul 07 '09 (Updated Jul 07 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Intense, graphic without being overwhelming, readers will not be able to see through the plot.
Cons: Characters are shallow, plot may bewilder, surprises and techniques may grow stale halfway through.
The Bottom Line: This book is worth checking out, but don't expect it to be the greatest of the kind. It'll hold your attention, but might disappoint after all is said and done.
mythwriter's Full Review: Richard Matheson - Now You See It
Richard Matheson is probably the foremost modern American writer of horror fiction behind Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Best Known for I Am Legend and the controversial Hell House, his work Now You See It is a later work that has sunk somewhat in quality of content, and as a result fallen into more obscurity than most of his other books. It is, nevertheless, a book filled with innumerable plot twists and plenty of shocking imagery and surprises, but these qualities alone do not usually a novel make.
One of the more interesting points of Matheson's chosen medium for Now You See It is that it is told through the eyes of a man completely incapacitated by a stroke, Emil Delacorte. As a former magician known as the Great Delacorte, he inhabits a room ingeniously built as the embodiment of a magician's trade. Filled with so many tricks and illusions, even its creators do not know all of its secrets. But it is soon put to a grim use as Delacorte's son, Max, who has taken over his father's title and work, invites his wife, Cassandra, along with her brother, Brian, and his agent to the Magic Room. Max, ailing of some illness, has a far greater grudge against all than anyone will first expect, and exacts a gruesome and terrible revenge as the contraptions of his Magic Room work to terrify his associates and attempt to execute them. But, as was said, no one knows anymore what the room is capable of, and even the magician may become tricked.
Everything about this story's concept is original and engaging. Everyone loves a magic show, and horror lovers can appreciate one turned so dark in its tricks and surprises. Matheson's idea to use Emil as a witness, one immobile and therefore ignored by all other characters, puts the reader in a uniquely human place amongst the happenings of the plot, unlike the somewhat aloof method of an author simply telling us a story. It also limits the reader's perspective and keeps the mystery real. The imagery is vivid and even, in some places, a little heavy on the gore, but hardly excessive in that regard. Finally, the plot switches hands so often, with advantage and disadvantage traded between villains and victims so often, they even trade roles between good and evil in the reader's perspective. This all amounts to what should be a fantastic book. So why does it fall short?
The answer may lie in an imbalance in how these qualities are distributed. The book's main flaw lies in relying far too heavily on the aforementioned plot twists. They happen so often that, aside from eventually risking the reader's total bewilderment, they become redundant and lose their edge. Further, they are usually accompanied by tricks seemingly diverse but are really of the same nature. One can only see a new dead body so many times before shock becomes expectation, and while there are other modes of progression, the revelation of a different stiff is the main one and simply used too often. And as for the characters themselves, they do not suffer as badly from a terminally shallow condition as do those in Hell House; they each have distinct personalities and just enough depth to give reasonable motives to their actions and make them believable, but it goes no further than that. While it is not necessary to create a Shakespearean portrait of humanity in characters of horror fiction, these fall just short of having enough depth to make us care about them - and if we don't care about them, the suspense and shock lose even more effect.
The effort in Now You See It truly reaches high, but sadly falls a little flat. Now, its shortcomings do not destroy it as a book, and it is still a good work, but it may prove somewhat disappointing for some. Perhaps given a little more time and love from Matheson, it could have proven more intense, in-depth and even longer in page count, but as a short book, barely longer than a novella, it satisfies its purpose.
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