Review: The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister

Title: The Magician's Lie
Author: Greer Macallister
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publish Date: January 13, 2015
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Water for Elephants meets The Night Circus in The Magician’s Lie, a debut novel in which the country’s most notorious female illusionist stands accused of her husband's murder --and she has only one night to convince a small-town policeman of her innocence.

The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden’s husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear.

But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless—and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding. Over the course of one eerie night, Virgil must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free… and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors."

My Two Cents:

In "The Magician's Lies," Arden is a illusionist who is truly a woman in a man's world. This book takes place before there were many female entertainers so she draws an audience merely for being a woman. She becomes very famous because her tricks are good. One night it appears that she killed her husband on stage during one of her illusions, Arden becomes a wanted woman. It'll be up to one man to determine whether or not Arden really committed the murder or was it just another illusion. There seems to be a lot of historical fiction books that have come out recently that take place in a circus or show setting. I've eaten so many of these books up and I was very attracted by the setting of this book!

Even though it's the setting that initially attracted me, the real reason that I ended up enjoying this book is that the way that the book is told is utterly engaging. The book flashes back between Arden's past and her being questioned by Virgil after her husband's murder. We get to know Arden and what makes her tick and how things are not always the way that they seem. To some degree Arden is an unreliable narrator, which I really enjoyed. Because there are so many flashbacks back-and-forth between the past and the present, readers definitely have to pay attention and it can get a little bit confusing. However if you're willing to pay attention, the payoff is great.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story because of the characters but the way that the action of the story is laid out. It definitely kept me on my toes and I love that.