Mister Magic is a Compelling Horror Mystery
This was one of the few books I purchased at Barnes & Noble, because I heard that horror fans were really into the horror ideas presented in this novel. Plus, the horror cover to this novel is freaking awesome.
It fits the vibe of the story so well, and I immediately knew I was going to read a masterpiece.
And I have to say, this is probably one of the best horror stories I have read in 2025.
The story follows a woman named Val, who works at a ranch, carrying on her father’s work. Her dad unfortunately passes away, and while she is at the funeral, a group of people introduce themselves to her, and she finds herself whisked away to an adventure full of horror and mystery.
This group consists of four people: Issac, Javi, Marcus, and Jenny. They take her to the town of Bliss, insisting that she must do an interview, and get ready to reunite with the old cast that is actually the five of them…that no longer exists.
It is called: Mister Magic.
When Val starts to begin her investigation to figure out what happened with the show, she learns one thing that completely topples her whole world.
Her sister went missing during the last episode on Mister Magic.
Val had a sister she never knew about named Kitty, who went missing during the final episode of Mister Magic. Javi, Issac, Marcus, and Jenny are terrified to tell her the real story of what actually happened, and they all claim that Kitty somehow died, but they don’t remember.
The mystery continues to build up with the show’s mystery, including terrifying sequences of Val running into Mister Magic himself, and a figment of her sister that is obviously a fake version.
Val eventually finds out that the show belonged to a cult located in Bliss, and they used Val and her friends to continue the show. Val had a gift that no other kid did, she was able to use real magic on the show, just like Mister Magic.
Her dad had tried to save all of her friends from the show, but he was only able to save Val, leaving her friends to fend for themselves. Kitty was sucked into the pocket universe of Mister Magic, and her friends were left so traumatized, that when they grew up, they struggled to become parents for their own children.
Val decides to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her loved ones.
Val and her friends agree to come out on the show for a reboot episode, when the cult threatens to use their children for the new episode. When Val and her friends arrive to the pocket universe, they discover something tragic.
When Val left the show, the Bliss cult tried to continue their show, but the universe kept taking the children into the world, trapping them forever. Val reunites with Kitty in this world, and she slowly realizes that Kitty and these kids can’t go back, because they are technically not alive anymore.
In order for no more children to be lost by this show, Val makes a tough decision. She gains back the magic she lost, and she kicks out all of her friends back to the real world. She professes her love to Issac before doing so, and I thought it was so bittersweet that she knew that she could have been happy with him.
Side note: Issac and Val were in love with each other in the book. I also thought it was so cute that Javi and Marcus were also into each other. They kiss as a farewell in case they died. I squealed when all the potential couples kissed lol.
This action leads to the downfall of Bliss. The whole town goes into bankruptcy, ending the cult for good. After a period of time, we reunite with the friends, and they are all so happy now.
- Javi and Marcus got married, and are raising their kids together as one family.
- It looks like Jenny got away from her asshole husband, and got to keep her wonderful kids.
- Issac got custody of his daughter.
The novel ends with the friends watching the television, knowing that Val is the new Mister Magic. She now runs the show on her own, using the show for good now. She watches over the kids who couldn’t go back home, becoming their own Mister Magic.
Issac and Val share one last look, letting Issac know that he can be happy without her.
The ending did make me a little emotional, because Issac and Val were truly in love with each other. It sucked that Val had to stay behind, but she wasn’t meant to go back to the real world. Her destiny lied with looking after the children who couldn’t go back home, and she kept that promise.
A lot more happens in this book, but this article would have been ten times longer if I explained the whole story.
This story was definitely a knockout, but I had two cons with this one.
1. The story was kind of slow.
While I didn’t mind the nice build up to the mystery of what happened with the show, I know that some readers wouldn’t be a fan of the slow build. Some people prefer fast paced novels, so I can see why some people had an issue with the slow pace of the story.
2. I wish we got more horror scares with Mister Magic.
The horror sequences scared the shit out of me, and it’s a shame that we got so little scenes. I think instead of the majority of the plot devices; we could have replaced some of it with scares.
I’m not playing, the use of Mister Magic’s cape scared me shitless. The cape would move by itself in some scenes, and there was even a scene where Val saw Mister Magic standing in the dark, watching her. Those scenes were incredible.
And if you’re a little confused with the plot to this book, I honestly struggled to write this one a little bit. The story is awesome, but it’s one of those that is kind of hard to summarize, due to all the crazy stuff that happens.
The introduction of the other universe was cool, but I can see how that might have confused some of you lol.
Mister Magic is one of the best horror novels I have read. I think it deserves to be in the top ten best horror books ever made!
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