The Magician's Tale

Rating:
Summary: Unusual story, exceptional protagonist, beautiful scenery
Review: Read this book if you are adventurous and wished at one time that you lived in San Fransisco! A slant on the disabled few people will get any insight into unless you have personal knowledge of the inpairment. Thought provoking. You will learn a lot and probably still wished you lived in San Fransisco when you are finished reading! BETH

Rating:
Summary: Diverting, but not very satisfying
Review: The "whodunit" plot was interesting enough to keep me with it to the end, but that was about it for this book. The protagonist, Kay, was basically obnoxious and I found it hard to really care what happens to her. Her father is described at one point as a former hippie, but his dialogue is that of a stereotypical soft-hearted Irish cop right out of a 40's movie. The driving force behind the plot, Kay's attachment to the murdered Tim, is never really brought to life by the author. Kay refers throughout the novel to her feelings for him, but since he is killed at the very beginning I found it hard to really empathize with her. This book is OK for the beach if nothing better is at hand, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Good - kept me reading
Review: The book was enjoyable during a long plane flight. It moves quickly and has interesting twists and turns. There are parts that are unbelievable, but overall, this is a good who-dun-it, with decent writing. What more can one ask for in a mystery?

Rating:
Summary: A haunting book. A great read!
Review: The first book with Kay Farrow, a color-blind photographer. She sees the world in black and white, and shades of gray. A nice allusion, I thought, to how most things in life are shades of gray, not just black and white. There were many references to photography, which I found interesting. The author is obviously a photographer himself. A great San Francisco setting. An interesting array of unique characters. I especially liked the way the author treated various alternate sexual orientations -- very non-judgemental. Overall a great read, and I look forward to reading the author's next Kay Farrow book.

Rating:
Summary: An Welcome Addition to the Female Detective Genre!
Review: The Magician's Tale introduces a new female heroine in Kay Farrow. Although a freelance photographer (interestingly, working in the medium of black and white only because of her total colorblindedness,) Kay is really a brilliant detective on the side. Her intuition is usually within perfect range of the way things actually are. This story is captivating as Kay explores the underbelly of the world of prostitution. She hangs out and gets to know a number of both male and female hustlers and they in turn befriend her. One boy in particular becomes especially attached to Kay and she to him. Kay receives an urgent call to meet him soon. When she shows up at the appointed time, he's a no show and Kay spends the remainder of the book searching him out. While the last sentence doesn't make the book sound particularly captivating, in an effort not to give away the story, that's as close as I want to come in describing the story lest I stand the chance of cheating anyone out of "the magic: of the story and of Kay Farrow. A wonderfully engaging plot with some intriguing twists. I can't wait to read some more of Kay Farrow's adventures!

Rating:
Summary: An imaginative story, skillfully told.
Review: The Magician's Tale is a very well constructed murder mystery that does not disappoint. The captivating plot unfolds in such a way that I'm sure most readers will have trouble putting the book down. I know I did.
But this novel has a number of great things going for it besides its very strong plot. Photojournalist Kay Farrow is the protagonist and narrator. Her character is extremely well fleshed out and quite believable. And her voice is a remarkably convincing one. So much so, it's hard to believe The Magician's Tale is the work of a male author.
Another very positive aspect is the attention to detail. Be it the ins and outs of the photographer's craft or the sights and sounds of San Francisco, an abundance of nicely detailed description is provided.
There is a fair amount of sexual content, much of it on the kinky side. However, since it is presented in an inoffensive, nonexploitative manner, it serves to enhance rather than detract from the overall storyline.

Written with imagination and skill, The Magician's Tale is a fascinating, page turner of a novel.

Rating:
Summary: An imaginative story, skillfully told.
Review: The Magician's Tale is a very well constructed murder mystery that does not disappoint. The captivating plot unfolds in such a way that I'm sure most readers will have trouble putting the book down. I know I did.
But this novel has a number of great things going for it besides its very strong plot. Photojournalist Kay Farrow is the protagonist and narrator. Her character is extremely well fleshed out and quite believable. And her voice is a remarkably convincing one. So much so, it's hard to believe The Magician's Tale is the work of a male author.
Another very positive aspect is the attention to detail. Be it the ins and outs of the photographer's craft or the sights and sounds of San Francisco, an abundance of nicely detailed description is provided.
There is a fair amount of sexual content, much of it on the kinky side. However, since it is presented in an inoffensive, nonexploitative manner, it serves to enhance rather than detract from the overall storyline.

Written with imagination and skill, The Magician's Tale is a fascinating, page turner of a novel.

Rating:
Summary: A great page-turner
Review: The Magician's tale is the most inspired, well-paced, entertaining mystery novel I've read since Patricia Cornwell's Cruel and Unusual. This is a really quick, fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Sexually Charged San Francisco Edge-of-Your-Seat Thriller
Review: The Magician's Tale was a sexually charged, erotically kinky ,edge of your seat thriller with all the mystery and depth of the San Francisco fog. This book was one of the most intelligent and gripping thrillers I have read in a long time. Living in the San Francisco Area, I was exceptionally thrilled by the accurate and in depth feel he gave to the city. I was walking down the steep hills, glancing into the night fog, my face felt the mist and dew with each turn of the page. My breath was heavy and labored as the excitement in me grew. I was very impressed with the compassion, depth, and wisdom he gave to Kay. She is an exceptional leading lady who taught me to see the world around me in a different respect. She urged me to continue with my art as she had me wrapped up in her world of mystery, danger and intrigue. If you crave intelligent thrillers, yearn for well weaved mysteries, and beg for well crafted stories, you shall find all of the above in The Magician's Tale. A treasure of a book, one I will not soon forget. -Angela Bernardon

Rating:
Summary: It's all so black and white, in the end
Review: The protagonist in this thriller is different from the run of the mill cop, ex-cop, private eye, etc. Kay Farrow is a photographer who, in an effort to overcome her own fears, draws on her revolted fascination with San Francisco's hustling scene to document commercial sex. She soon finds herself, if not accepted, at least tolerated in the Gulch, where she forms an unusual bond with Tim Lovesey, whose beauty entrances both Kay and her camera. Though their worlds are so different, Kay and Tim become close (or so she thinks), as she works on a series of studies for a potential book.

After Tim does not turn up at a pre-arranged meeting, Kay's fears are realised when his head and some body parts turn up in a dumpster. Kay then makes a sometimes uncomfortable alliance with the police investigating the case, and discovers a link with an old serial killing case that, incredibly, involved her ex-cop father. She also discovers she knew absolutely nothing about Tim at all.

Like many novels of this genre, The Magician's Tale relies on readers accepting a larger than life protagonist and a complex and incredible set of coincidences. The alliance with the good cop/bad cop police was barely credible, and SFO must be the only place in the world where someone passing by with a camera can photograph a corpse. Or bits of one. Maybe they just have to be daughters of ex-cops. Besides all that, we also have to accept that Kay suffers from an eyesight affliction, which besides rendering her totally colour-blind, makes her vision extremely (often dangerously) sensitive to light, but does not stop her becoming a whiz at b/w photography (obviously with low lighting). Fortunately for her, the tradeoff is enhanced night vision, and since she sees in monochrome anyway (except when the author forgets), it makes it easy for her to categorise everyone - no shades of grey there. Only black hats and white hats would have made the definitions sharper. She also seems to have suffered from tunnel vision, since she often used the viewfinder to filter the view. The Indian boyfriend, Sasha - what purpose did he serve other than to allow Kay to have a very active (though conventional, however sweaty) black and white sex life, perhaps to provide a contrast to Tim's lifestyle. And the guy in the park, P-L-EEASE!

Most of those criticisms came in retrospect, as I was quickly absorbed in the voyeuristic look at the world of commercial sex, the blurred line between the hunters and the prey. As the investigation continues, Kay finds the shocking truth about Tim's formative life, and the effect his early mentor's manipulation had on his later years. Along the way, she uncovers a nasty web of power-mongering, police corruption and deception.

All faults aside, "The Magician's Tale" is certainly a compelling thriller and it's pretty obvious Kay Farrow is destined to make a return appearance. However, I would reserve my opinion regarding comparisons made on the jacket to Cornwell's Scarpetta, or Hoeg's Smilla until I see something more.