Now You See it... [Paperback]

Richard Matheson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor; First Edition edition (1995)
• ASIN: B000OTNBFS
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,487,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Matheson was born in 1926. He began publishing SF with his short story 'Born of Man and Woman' in 1950. I Am Legend was published in 1954 and subsequently filmed as The Omega Man (in 1971), starring Charlton Heston, and I Am Legend (in 2007), starring Will Smith. Matheson wrote the script for the film The Incredible Shrinking Man, an adaptation of his second SF novel The Shrinking Man. The film won a Hugo award in 1958. He wrote many screenplays as well as episodes of The Twilight Zone. He continued to write short stories and novels, some of which formed the basis for film scripts, including Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1971. A film of his novel What Dreams May Come was released in 1998, starring Robin Williams. Stephen King has cited Richard Matheson as a creative influence on his work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced but gets old., May 25, 2005

By 

Horror Reader (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Now You See It . . . (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this story after seeing the movie Stir of Echoes. It started out really good. I couldn't put it down. Then it sort of did the same thing over and over again. It leads you in one direction only to completely surprise you, but this only works a couple of times. After a while, I was left having a good idea of what was going to happen next. The ending was very unbelievable. Still, because of good pacing, it's not a totally bad read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watch carefully.....and learn (from a master), September 25, 2006

By 

James P. Lea "James P. Lea 'bookaholic" (Vancouver, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Now You See It . . . (Paperback)

First off let me state that this is definitely not one of Richard Matheson's best works. However that is like stating that Micheal Jordan had an off day by only scoring 30 + points. You can still enjoy the performance and learn a lot from it.

The novel centers around (and is narrated by) Emil Delacorte a retired stage magician who is now a paraplegic after suffering a massive stroke. In the introduction Matheson does a marvelous job of foreshadowing the coming events and sets the mood for the insanity that follows. What follows is a series of twists and turns that leave the reader shocked and stunned and wondering what is going to happen next.

What made this novel work for me was a number of things 1) Mathesons very tight, almost journalistic prose which allowed him to cram an incredible amount of events into a very few pages. Very few authors could have written such a tight, powerful tale. (The critic who complained about the simplistic style of writing obviously did not get this-stick to long winded overblown epics if that is your preference-but for this story Mathesons styling was perfect.) 2) Having the guts to have the story told in the first person by a paraplegic took guts-not every writer could pull this off. 3) A consistent weaving of twists & turns that was an exercise in prestidigitation in it's own right. Matheson will lead you one way with his plot and while you are looking that direction he twists in in a completely different direction. 4) Matheson's knowledge and explanations of magicians trade secrets and craft adds a verisimilitude to the story that makes it seem much more possible and believable. Not a lot of writers are capable of compressing so much into a 220 page novel and make it work- and only a master like Matheson can make you enjoy the ride at the same time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WTF ???, January 7, 2005

By 

Michael Beveridge (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Now You See It . . . (Paperback)

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 !!!