Priest, one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists (1983 list), has not been overproductive since he made a small reputation with The Affirmation and The Glamour, published here more than a dozen years ago. His new novel (the title of which refers to the residue left after a magician's successful trick) is enthrallingly odd. In a carefully calculated period style that is remarkably akin to that of the late Robertson Davies, Priest writes of a pair of rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London. Each has a winning trick the other craves, but so arcane is the nature of these tricks, so incredibly difficult are they to perform, that they take on a peculiar life of their own?in one case involving a mysterious apparent double identity, in the other a reliance on the ferocious powers unleashed in the early experimental years of electricity. The rivalry of the two men is such that in the end, though both are ashamed of the strength of their feelings of spite and envy, it consumes them both, and affects their respective families for generations. This is a complex tale that must have been extremely difficult to tell in exactly the right sequence, while still maintaining a series of shocks to the very end. Priest has brought it off with great imagination and skill. It's only fair to say, though, that the book's very considerable narrative grip is its principal virtue. The characters and incidents have a decidedly Gothic cast, and only the restraint that marks the story's telling keeps it on the rails. (Publishers Weekly)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Travelling to hyphen8, who won it at the "Nothing-to-see-here-move-along-RABCK-draw"
Happy reading!

This book was waiting for me when I got home from work today - along with a bunch of wonderful little labels!

Thanks very much. :)

I will do my best to find a new home for this book once I've read it.

I was wondering why the font size on this journal entry is so small..but I think maybe it's because the previous journaler forgot to close the HTML font size code? (Looks like the slash is missing.)

I love this cover image. I think I might have found the book more confusing if I hadn't seen the film first, but I didn't find it any less creepy for knowing the heart of the two magicians' secrets.

Two men whose lives are inextricably tied together by their similarities and their differences; they might have been friends but instead their rivalry pushes them both to extremes.

Excellent stuff. I may save this book for round 3 of collectorkerri's 1st sentences VBB. :)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book has been chosen from collectorkerri's 1st Sentences VBB and is on the way to its new home. Happy reading!

The book arrived yesterday, and looks very interesting! Thanks!

I sent this book yesterday to Thalasse.

The book is here! I think I won't be interested in reading about stage magicians, so I'll release it at Finncon in July along with the rest of the books kasenka sent me.

The book will be released at Finncon 2014. Happy reading!

Picked up from FinnCon 2014