Now You See It...

Rating:
Summary: A twisted tale of magic and murder from Richard Matheson
Review: "Now You See It" is an amusing little trifle from one of the Grand Masters of Horror, Richard Matheson. Our narrator for this twisted tale of terror is Emil Delacorte, once a great stage magician but now (as he repeatedly tells us) a vegetable as a result of a stroke. In The Magic Room of the house now owned by his son Maximilian, the current holder of the title The Great Delacorte, Emil watches a strange series of events unfold and get even stranger by the minute. Involved in the festivities are Max, who has stopped performing because of some illness, Cassandra, his beautiful but treacherous wife, Brian, her brother and Max's unhappy assistant, Harry, his backstabbing agent, and Grover Plum, the local sheriff. There is murder and magic in the air and you will never ever, be able to figure out who has done what to who. Matheson has as many twists and turns in this one as he did in all of his Twilight Zone episodes put together. Just sit down and enjoy the ride. "Now You See It" is really more of a novella than a novel, which means you can read it in the time it would usually take you to watch a movie. This is not a great work of horror, but it is sure a lot of fun. When you are done you will be curious as to why this was never made into a movie for television. There are disembodied heads insulting people, corpses that are not dead or refuse to die, and a lightning storm providing appropriate punctuation to the high points, Somebody somewhere in Tinsel Town must have let their option expire.

Rating:
Summary: A twisted tale of magic and murder from Richard Matheson
Review: "Now You See It" is an amusing little trifle from one of the Grand Masters of Horror, Richard Matheson. Our narrator for this twisted tale of terror is Emil Delacorte, once a great stage magician but now (as he repeatedly tells us) a vegetable as a result of a stroke. In The Magic Room of the house now owned by his son Maximilian, the current holder of the title The Great Delacorte, Emil watches a strange series of events unfold and get even stranger by the minute. Involved in the festivities are Max, who has stopped performing because of some illness, Cassandra, his beautiful but treacherous wife, Brian, her brother and Max's unhappy assistant, Harry, his backstabbing agent, and Grover Plum, the local sheriff. There is murder and magic in the air and you will never ever, be able to figure out who has done what to who. Matheson has as many twists and turns in this one as he did in all of his Twilight Zone episodes put together. Just sit down and enjoy the ride. "Now You See It" is really more of a novella than a novel, which means you can read it in the time it would usually take you to watch a movie. This is not a great work of horror, but it is sure a lot of fun. When you are done you will be curious as to why this was never made into a movie for television. There are disembodied heads insulting people, corpses that are not dead or refuse to die, and a lightning storm providing appropriate punctuation to the high points, Somebody somewhere in Tinsel Town must have let their option expire.

Rating:
Summary: This is Mystery-Not Horror
Review: I can't recall the last time I've read such an exasperating, cloying book. As a fan of plot twists, I thought this looked promising--but the thrill quickly wore thin, until the seemingly endless turns grew tiresome and obnoxious. What's worse, I could practically hear in my head Richard Matheson saying "Hey, look at me, I put in ANOTHER twist! Isn't that just TOO clever of me? " I got the feeling of someone writing stream-of-consciousness, who every now and then just though it would be neat to say "No, what I said before, turns out it wasn't true!" and wound the writing around to make it seem right. And "seem" I say deliberately. By the end, once I knew The Full Story, I found the oh-so-perfectness of the plot, and the idea that the characters had at various times actually been fooled, really hard to believe. (That explanation probably doesn't make much sense to someone who hasn't read the book yet, but I am keeping my words deliberately vague so I don't spoil it!)

Also...to get away from the issue of twists for a second...I found all the characters in this book terribly unsympathetic (except the narrator, who is only an observer rather than a participant in the action). It was difficult to care too much about what happened to them--instead the focus was, perhaps deliberately, on HOW things happened, which was to me decidedly unsatisfying.

All in all, I found this book tedious and irritating. If you are interested in terrific plot twists, be sure to read Ira Levin's _A Kiss Before Dying_. Or maybe go back and watch "Time Enough at Last" on a Twilight Zone marathon. But undertake _Now You See It_ cautiously.

Rating:
Summary: TRICKY TREATS
Review: This book reminds me very much of such stage classics as "Sleuth" and "Deathtrap", wherein there are several plot twists and character turns that stump the audience. That said, Matheson has created a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, enhanced by the utilization of a stroke victim (also termed a "vegetable") as the narrator.

The plot revolves around a magician's revenge on his unfaithful wife and agent. Though at times a little labored, the narrative flows smoothly and the twists at the end are surprising.

This is not classic Matheson, but the man's genius as a writer remains evident in this compact little story.

Rating:
Summary: TRICKY TREATS
Review: This book reminds me very much of such stage classics as "Sleuth" and "Deathtrap", wherein there are several plot twists and character turns that stump the audience. That said, Matheson has created a tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, enhanced by the utilization of a stroke victim (also termed a "vegetable") as the narrator.

The plot revolves around a magician's revenge on his unfaithful wife and agent. Though at times a little labored, the narrative flows smoothly and the twists at the end are surprising.

This is not classic Matheson, but the man's genius as a writer remains evident in this compact little story.

Rating:
Summary: WTF ???
Review: This book was great, short, to the point, but great. There were soooo many twists and turns ir was insane. I loved it. A lot of people complain saying its too short or confusing or whatever, but if you like suspenceful book, youll like this one, it keeps you second guessing the whole time and with little turns in every chapter you may THINK you know the ending, but not even close.
Check it out !!!

Rating:
Summary: worst Matheson novel
Review: This story was so convoluted and ridiculous i felt like I was the one who'd had a trick played on him. I love Matheson, and i think his body of work is incredible. But this felt like it was written by a 6TH grader. You ever listen to a child tell a story..."and then he did this, and then he did this, and then everyone suddenly had invisible forcefields"...I seriously doubt there was any type of outline for this. It just jumps from one random moment to the next. The characters are annoying, and the twists were ridiculously improbable. Save yout time and money and read Hell House or I am Legend or somethign that proves how good Matheson is. Because this ain't it.