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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kay Farrow - feisty, brave, my new hero
Review: This book gripped me from the introductory page. Kay is a great protagonist who is not afraid to go out into the underworld of San Francisco to find out who killed her friend. The whole magician sequence was mesmerizing. There were many twists and turns, a lot that could not be predicted. Hats off to David Hunt. Now I'm going to find "A Trick of Light" (the next Kay Farrow book).
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst I've read in a long time
Review: This book had no suspense, the characters were flat--in fact,Kay was so flat it made no difference if the author had made hereither a man or woman. She did seem androgenous, as did everyone in that book. There was no need to keep repeating about her color blindness--which the author made sure we were aware of on at least every page. It became clear who the killer was about one third into the book, and then it just dragged on and on--all these boring little sequences about Kay's akido class and her mentor. It was poorly written and read like a diary. Also, the author's perception of San Francisco seems way off--walking from the Hall of Justice to Pacific Heights is a long long way, all uphill, not something you do in ten minutes. He makes it sound like everything in SF is ten minutes apart by foot. And what woman prowls the streets of rough areas at night, alone, and with an expensive camera around her neck? Come on, give me a break.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent start foiled by flaws
Review: This book started out well enough, but the author lost me somewhere in the middle. He was so busy explaining how marginalized people are really great, that he forgot to include much of a plot. Other annoyances: The bad characters are obviously bad from their first appearances; The lead character, Kay, is living too well in SF for what she earns and somehow turns into an ace detective overnight. To be fair, my favorite suspense/thriller authors are folks like James Ellroy, Ian Banks, Nelson Demille and Walter Mosley, where nearly everyone is bad to some degree,you are never quite sure what will happen next and bad things happen to main characters. The author matches these guys in atmospherics. The San Francisco backdrop was probably my favorite part of the book.
Rating:
Summary: The Magicians Tale
Review: This book was one of the best I have read. I hardly ever pick up a book to read, but this one caught my interest. I never have finished a whole book before this one! I loved it!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, entertaining and different!
Review: This is a fast read that keeps you going on and on to see what's next. I found it interesting for how it attacked a murder mystery from a different angle. It certainly was entertaining and different in taking the reader to the underworld sex scene in San Francisco, without being judgemental! I found the book's characters well described and believable, regardless of what other reviewers say, and I thought at times that this book had been written by a woman by the way the intimacy and feelings were described for Kay when she was with her Sasha. All in all, an enjoyable and different book - I like David Hunt's writing style and yes, the font's and quality of this book are great!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, entertaining and different!
Review: This is a fast read that keeps you going on and on to see what's next. I found it interesting for how it attacked a murder mystery from a different angle. It certainly was entertaining and different in taking the reader to the underworld sex scene in San Francisco, without being judgemental! I found the book's characters well described and believable, regardless of what other reviewers say, and I thought at times that this book had been written by a woman by the way the intimacy and feelings were described for Kay when she was with her Sasha. All in all, an enjoyable and different book - I like David Hunt's writing style and yes, the font's and quality of this book are great!
Rating:
Summary: Good Plot But Slow Going
Review: This is a good story but David Hunt is more of a writer than a storyteller. The pull to solve the mysteries was strong, but the writing style slowed the pace to a crawl at times. The characters, for the most part, were well drawn and interesting. For some reason the love interest of the main character just didn't ring true. Overall, a pretty good read but it doesn't have me rushing out to by Mr. Hunt's next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Almost has it all.
Review: This is another book review by Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. While "The Magician's Tale" by David Hunt does not have any canine angles, there were a couple aspects of the book that drew it to our attention. First, the lead character, photographer Kay Farrow, is color-blind but has strong night vision. In other words, she literally sees the world almost like we do. Second, as accomplished escape artists (collars, fenced yards, etc.), we have an interest in magic. Hunt makes excellent use of stage and street magic in this book. "The Magician's Tale" has serial murders, kinky sex, conspiracies, numerous fascinating characters, San Francisco, Anne-Ricean sensuality, martial arts--everything but a dog. Despite all these elements, the book is generally so well-written and well-paced that it only rarely strains the reader's capacity for willing suspension of disbelief. For once the blurbs on a book jacket--"atmospheric, kinky and brooding", "street-smart", "very intense", "seductively written", "compellingly suspenseful"--are true
Rating:
Summary: Almost has it all.
Review: This is another book review by Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. While "The Magician's Tale" by David Hunt does not have any canine angles, there were a couple aspects of the book that drew it to our attention. First, the lead character, photographer Kay Farrow, is color-blind but has strong night vision. In other words, she literally sees the world almost like we do. Second, as accomplished escape artists (collars, fenced yards, etc.), we have an interest in magic. Hunt makes excellent use of stage and street magic in this book. "The Magician's Tale" has serial murders, kinky sex, conspiracies, numerous fascinating characters, San Francisco, Anne-Ricean sensuality, martial arts--everything but a dog. Despite all these elements, the book is generally so well-written and well-paced that it only rarely strains the reader's capacity for willing suspension of disbelief. For once the blurbs on a book jacket--"atmospheric, kinky and brooding", "street-smart", "very intense", "seductively written", "compellingly suspenseful"--are true
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