Thirty years after a tragic accident shut down production of the mysterious children’s program Mister Magic, the five remaining cast members are brought back together in a strange house in the desert, where they begin to realize their childhood is not exactly how they remembered it to be.
Sometimes it’s fun to write one star reviews, because the story is not at all what was said on the tin and then I’m annoyed to have spent time with it. Other times, it’s tough to write one star reviews, because while you see what the author was striving for and know they have put their heart and soul into it, it simply has not worked.
The premise drew me in, hinging as it did around the idea of a mysterious ‘lost’ children’s TV show. However, the story just takes a very long time to get off the ground, and then the mystery is laid bare with one fell swoop (it’s fundamentalist propaganda. It’s always fundamentalist propaganda), after which point all that’s left is to see things unravel. The theme of an eldritch horror and the elitist cabal that tries to use it for its own ends is explored to better effect in White’s previous novel Hide, but I couldn’t suspend my belief sufficiently to really believe it in Mister Magic.
The characters also felt flat and juvenile, even when you take their background into account. A major part of this book revolves around their friendship, but while there were flashes of banter and camaraderie between them, it couldn’t convince me in the end – and the less said about the touches of romance, the better.
Things picked up in the last 15% of the book or so, but by then it was just too little, too late. Do not recommend.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.