Customer Reviews

The Magician's Tale

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Georgeous, fog-enshrouded prose, well-paced, homo-erotic, sensuous and colorful (in a monochromatic way). I just loved this book, turned about ten of my book-reading friends on to it, and never got a complaint. The author is so familiar with the bay area that I feel like I am there, in the text. Give this book a chance: it is stark, raw and nasty, and tells a tale that is so convoluted and poignant that I defy anyone to put it down after the first 100 pages.

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.

I have led a bookgroup about Robert Ludlum online for some time. I read authors works until completion. I've read DeMille, Forsyth, Sanders, Follet, O'Shaughnessy, Gruenfeld and am completing Cornwall.

I've lived in the South Bay for 15 years. I'm a Mom, and a RE Developer. I also hang out in bars w/ my friends in Los Gatos. I'm originally from NY/NJ with a stint in Boulder, CO.

I adore "the city" (San Francisco). I have lingered in all parts of the city, from the "Haight" to the "Castro" to the "Wharf" to "North Beach" and to "SOMA".

My gay friend Daryl has slepped me thru the Polk area as well.

I've mingled with financiers, as well as hustlers.

There is absolutely no comparision to Hunt's vision of the City. He brings an "other-worldly-ness to San Francisco. Wrapped in fog and mystery, like a skillful lover bringing you to the edge of desire...showing you worlds unseen, David Hunt has crafted a beautiful book.

As a "mystery" I was drawn in enough to stay up all night to read it. Clearly his work in this genre compares to other writers, some mentioned above.

I made my friend Daryl read it. A Masters Degree from Berkeley,...no slouch he. After argueing over the "precise authenticity" of the gay world, he agreed that it was a "haunting" read....maybe even prose.

I would reccomend this book not only to "mystery" readers, but perhaps venture to place it into to the "Travel" area. My "East Coast" friends loved the book, moreso for this vision of the city. "Wow!, is it really like that?"

Dark, beautiful, surrounded by the sound of the sea, encased in fog.....Hunt's monochromatic pictue of San Francisco is a compelling and haunting read!

Many times you see novels with original or highly creative storylines and then are disappointed upon discovering that the idea is as far as the author gets. THE MAGICIAN'S TALE did not fall into that trap.

The story of the female color-blind photographer is just as interesting as the idea of such a combination. The author seems to excel in both characterization and setting - you could almost feel the San Francisco fog. I really enjoy books in which the main character "somehow" becomes involved in a crime and solves the mystery her/himself. I also admit that I like the female detective genre simply because of both the limitations and the opportunities denied or offorded a female detective.

This is a great read from a relatively new author. Her's hoping for many more.

Kay, the protagonist, has a severe form of daltonism that prevents the sufferer from seeing colors, so the world for her is black and white. In fact her world is black and white in more than one sense, since the characters are neatly divided into "good" and "bad," and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to discover almost at first sight who belongs to which group.

I also thought that the protagonist's colorblindness didn't serve any particular purpose and sometimes it stood on the way. After a while it became amusing to find out the occasions in which the author just forgot the heroine could not see colors and made her describe the color of things, often (but not always) catching himself and adding "so I'm told." However, that didn't bother me as much as Kay's boyfriend Sasha. I don't know what the other female readers thought about him but I for one found him incredibly annoying. Not even the cheapest romance writer would have dared to trot out such a picture-perfect, implausible and one-dimensional Prince Charming. After a while I found myself suspecting that in fact he was the murderer, since such a pristine appearance could only hide something sinister. He wasn't of course, he wouldn't do anything as interesting as that. After a while I just skipped the parts in which he appeared, and believe me, this did not affect my understanding of the plot one whit.

This is not terrible, however, since this book is just a mystery and certainly it is not among the worst I've read. It is interesting enough and keeps you reading, and the plot hasn't holes, at least not of the gaping kind, though I have to say that there are no big surprises either. As a whole, I'd say it was entertaining, but it does not tempt me to follow the series, especially if Sasha continues to turn up.

It seems fashionable nowadays for mystery authors to provide their protagonist with a physical or emotional handicap. David Hunt's heroine is a photographer with autosomal recessive achromatopsia. It means she is totally color blind, and sees only shades of gray. Naturally she sticks to black and white photography.

This is a well written book, and while it is not full of twists and turns that make you gasp in surprise, it is a worthy mystery tale. The heroine, true to today's current writing fashion, is a feisty lady who pursues the bad guys without giving in to threats, and even beatings.

This author obviously lives or has lived in San Francisco. For those of us who have also lived there, DH never leaves us in the dark as to which street corner Kay Farrow is standing on. That's a lot of fun for me, but probably won't be exciting to readers in Mobile, Alabama. It is also nice to know that the author has some knowledge of the protagonist's profession. It is jarring when technical mistakes work their way into a book, but DH seems to have at least a nodding acquaintance with photography. When Kay takes a picture of her father outside of his bakery, DH mentions that the resulting image resembles an August Sander portrait. Shows he knows something about the field.

I refer to David Hunt as a "he", but I have heard rumors that the author is really a woman. (?)

As I was reading through the list of books on this site, I came across this book that I read quite a long time ago, (2 years at the least). I remember being scared to death to sleep with the lights off, and thinking that Kay was just a wonderful antagonist.Hats off to Hunt! Isn't he suppossed to have a new book out? Does anyone have any info on this new sequel book? All that I can say is that this book kept me guessing from beginning to end and it was one of those CAN'T PUT IT DOWN EVEN TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! You need to read this book! (With the lights on, of course)!

A fascinating and macabre tale of a woman and what she discovers as she tries to unravel the horrific death of a street hustler. Kay, a color blind photographer, has grown close to this young male hustler during her forays into "street realism" for her photography. I enjoyed the great character development and the way the author slowly peels away their layers. However, some of the subject material might be offensive to certain right wing types as this book has been banned.

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!

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!