This book takes place over one night although the whole story is over many years. The Amazing Arden is the greatest illusionist of her age. The climax to her show is when she saws a man in half. (It was fine when this illusion was done by a man to a woman but with the roles reversed it is considered scandalous!) This has helped her fame.

Virgil Holt, a young lawman, witnesses the performance when Arden uses a large axe in the illusion instead of a saw. Later the body of her husband is found under the stage. Arden is on the run.

Quite by chance Virgil comes across the fleeing Arden & takes her into custody. Through the long night Arden tells him her story to attempt to gain her freedom.

I found the whole book fascinating and absorbing. Arden tells her tale well and Greer Macallister captured the era beautifully.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this terrific book.

The premises fascinated me from the start - a female illusionist committing what appears to be a blatant act of murder - onstage - in front of her captivated audience.

The story itself, however, is an alternating narrative which takes place in a police cell between the 'amazing" Arden and Vigil Holt, the policeman who takes her into custody as she flees the scene of the crime. As the night progresses, Arden relates her personal story from start to arrest, and then we are brought back to the police station (figuratively) for a little interaction between captor and captive.

The backstory of Arden's life, which was one of harsh disappointments, was of interest; the character of Virgil was really there for the sole purpose of Arden having someone to tell her story to; and the ending ........ well, you must pay attention to discover what the lie actually is.

Look, overall, easy to read, easy to follow, a no-brainer.

Loved this book!
The writing, the style and the story.....magical!!!!

An interesting story the delved into the harsh realities of circus life. Ada has an interesting past, and the way the story is told is interesting. The plot and concept were absolutely stellar but unfortunately fell a bit flat in the pacing. There were moments of huge suspense where I could barely put the book down, and others where the story really dragged. And the ending? Best we never mention it again. All the build up, and what a cliched letdown. The Magician's Lie was MOSTLY good. Just didn't quite make it to great.

When the famous illusionist, the amazing Arden, is apprehended, apparently fleeing the site of her husband’s murder, by a lone police officer she protests her innocence and insists she will tell the officer everything in a bid to convince him to let her go. What follows is the narrative of her life, a life filled with danger, obsession, passion and magic.
There have been several touring circus novels of late – Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, etc – but for good reason. The setting holds so much promise for adventure and intrigue, whilst detaching itself from the social limitations of the time, allowing for strong, free female characters in historical novels. The rich detail makes it a very easy story to get into. The reader breathlessly awaits the revelation of whether Arden is guilty or not just as much as the police officer, who finds himself won over by her tale completely against his will. It’s a hugely compelling read that will mesmerise you as much as one of Arden’s illusions.

The Amazing Arden is a female magician who is a popular touring act in local theatres in the early years of the twentieth century. When her husband is found murdered Arden is captured by Virgil, local lawman and placed in the station overnight. As Virgil guards Arden he tries to get her to confess to the crime but instead she tells him her life story. Arden is woman who practices the art of illusion and Virgil is a man with his own worries, will Arden tell the truth or will she try to escape?

At times this book is completely wonderful, poetic, romantic escapism. However it is not consistent the whole way through. I liked the structure, Arden confessing over the course of a night but felt that the sections where Arden and Virgil spoke were almost unnecessary as they made me want to find out more of Virgil's story which was very lightly sketched. I also felt the fey nature of Arden's 'power' was a slightly odd note. I felt Ray was a suitably menacing villain although I was not convinced of his hold on Arden. Having said that I loved tales of life in the huge mansions and the theatres of turn of the century America.

The Magician's Lie tells the story of female illusionist Arden - born Ada Bates - telling her story to police officer Virgil Holt who is interrogating her with regards to a suspicious murder that occurred after one of her shows. Arden describes growing up in a small farming town, working as a servant in a mansion, moving to New York and falling into a magic show. A book that presents Arden's life retrospectively, the story depicts how Arden became the illusionist she is and the two boys-turned-men who most shaped her life.

Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the book is how misleading the blurb is. The book is not set in a traveling circus and in fact the setting itself has very little to do with the overall meat of the story. It also was incorrectly billed as Arden's trustworthiness in her storytelling being questioned. While the police officer obviously expressed doubts, nothing would at all create doubt in the reader's mind, and it was much less of a psychological book than I was expecting.

However, the plot is interesting and moves quickly, and I appreciated the strong female elements. The characters are perhaps a bit one-dimensional, and there were some plot lines that didn't feel tied up at the end. But I would recommend this as a quick and entertaining read, particularly by those interested in magic. Please note there are elements of abuse and self-harm in this novel.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital copy in exchange for a fair review!

The setting for the novel is what drew me in - the idea of a troupe of performers on the road in early 20th century America, delivering shows full of spectacle and magic to receptive audiences lacking some of the cynicism of the modern day. At the centre of the group of performers is Arden, a young woman who has escaped a poor and quite tragic childhood to become the headline magician in the stage show, gaining her place after being trained up by a formidable female illusionist. One night, Arden's 'halved man' trick seems to go wrong, a corpse is found in the theatre and Arden, the obvious suspect for the crime, is forced to tell her story.

There was so much about this book that I loved, especially the twists and the suspense in the plot. I also enjoyed the sense of light and shade - Arden's interrogator is portrayed with as many flaws and human touches as the woman herself, making this more than a simple whodunit. Additionally, I love a story about women with power and agency, especially when they are going against societal expectations, so a lot of this was a winner for me!

There were a few niggles though. Some of the motivations of characters seemed a bit undeveloped, plus I felt something was missing from the ending (although I can't put my finger on what). Still, these are just small flaws in what is an engaging and page-turning read.

Overall, I'd recommend this novel to lovers of historical fiction, although I'd warn that the mystery element takes more of a back seat than I expected. Alongside the expected crime story, the reader is given an interesting portrait of a strong women making her way in a man's world and the book is all the better for that.

Constantly playing with the line between reality and illusion, this book had a really great structure which made it all the more compelling. The unfolding of Arden's story, juxtaposed with her conversation with Officer Holt, makes the tension unfold as the hours tick by. By interspersing his own thoughts into her story, the tension between illusion and truth are dimmer as his feelings come into play. Arden herself is a fascinating character who I could not help but empathize with as her life, according to her, has not been easy. Holt's character as well, even in the small snippets we get with him, has a great backstory which lends a new twist to the entire story. All in all, the characters and the story telling power combine to make a story I could not put down!

Few days ago I started my adventure with Netgalley. Since I'm dumb and so freaking optimistic, I requested books that I could never obtain, but my eyes fell on this edition's cover. So I check out the blurb and said to myself: give it a try. So I requested the book and it got approved!
Saying that I was happy would be simplistic way to express my feelings.

Since this was my first and actual Netgalley experience, I'm glad to say that I really enjoyed the book.
There are few thing that gave a bit of strange feeling and reaction, so I will start with these.

First of all, at the start, I had little problems with the writing style. Usually, since I'm not an english mother language, I rarely have problems with the style - I can not notice thing that an english speaker can actually see - but this time I felt that it sounded a bit plain and flat. Some words were used in the same paragraph too many times, and the text started to sound repetitive.
That went off really soon and the book started to flow again.

The narrative is divided in two different periods - one in the present and one the past. I had strange feelings with the present one. The moments between Arden and the officier were bizzare. Were they creepy with the intente to be exactly like that?
Anyway, I started immediatly to feel attracted to Arden's narrative and story, even if I would have preferred a less "telling like" style, but as soon as dialogues were introduced, I stopped to feel the need of something different.

Everything was cool, really cool, villain included. Maybe I would have love to see more of Ray - especially with his twisted side - but it would have steal Arden's words and past.
It was really cool to see and read how much a person con change and grow up, rising to success in a life completely different from the one in which she was born.
Choosing a setting full of illusions and real magic - but this magic isn't exactly the core of the story - featuring at least a great female illusioner that existed for real was such a good choice. I learned a lot of things about illusionism - adding personal resarchs - about I knew nearly nothing.

Honestly, I'm not the greates Arden fan since I could relate to her not as much as I wanted, but at least I didn't find the romance to be stupid or embarassing - and that happen to me quite often. The plot reserved me few surprises and I got involved enough to hope the better for the protagonist and to scream a good amount of "NOOOOO".

So, The Magician's Lie is a book which I had a rocky start, but the story went on on on smoothly, in a good mix of magic and the growing up of a young girl, trying to escape a monster and to find something worth living.
If you're a crime stories' lover, don't geet fooled by the blurb but it was a really good read where truth was always so near and so far at the same time. Another little flaw? Maybe the end. I was expecting something like that but great bitter ending wasn't exactly something I would have dismiss.

I was given an e-copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. We start out the book with a murder that a magician is accused of. Throughout the book we learn of Ada's (the magician) life through her conversations with a policeman. Ada is trying to prove her innocence because this policeman is the only one in the way of her going free or hanging. Ada begins her story when she is still living with her grandparents. Her mother later marries and moves her away to a home that isn't a happy place. Ada learns ballet from a Russian tutor and has an opportunity to audition for a school in New York. Something happens and Ada ends up getting hurt and the school is no longer in her grasp. She leaves home because she knows that she will never be happy while she lives there and her mother is unwilling to help. Ada ends up working at the Biltmore estate as a maid then later travels to New York. She works for Broadway for a time then meets a magician whom she starts to work for. This book is full of fantastical elements which I couldn't get enough of. It kind of reminded me of The Night Circus in that respect. I couldn't wait to get to the end to see if Ada had indeed committed the murder and I definitely wasn't disappointed. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good mystery, historical fiction, or a fantastical story!

I was somewhat disappointed by this – it was billed as for fans of "The Night Circus" and "Water for Elephants" but the authenticity of the story and the depth of the characters came nowhere near either of them for me. The plot was an interesting premise but followed fairly predictable lines with the psycho stalker feeling like a bit of a cop out.

This historical novel about a female magician, is a really good and compelling read. The Amazing Arden is a famous female illusionist, who is the first to saw a man in half. When the illusion goes wrong Ada is captured by a policeman and proceeds to tell her story, about how she came to be accused of murder, but insists she is innocent. This book is a mystery, and a romance and cleverly spins the tale of Ada's past. . The parts about the showmanship of the travelling magic show are very interesting, and you learn about how the old tricks and illusions were done. I found the book full of drama mystery, and suspense, and recommend it.

This was a very different book to anything that I've read. I really enjoyed the different aspects to it. The only thing it lacked for me was a hook. I enjoyed the tale that was woven through this book but unfortunately it just didn't grip me. I think it was because of the interruptions from the present day. Having said this, I did enjoy the story and it had a very lovely ending. It also has some unexpected themes in it that made it very intriguing.

The Magician's Lie is a story that captivated me from the first page. A true fantasy realism piece, it leaves you never 100 per cent certain whether the story Arden spins is true or pure fiction. I enjoyed the slow build and subtle weaving of Arden's spell (over us as much as Virgil Holt) but, for me, the ending seemed a tad abrupt. After such a steady pace at the start, the denouement was over within a few pages. It's certainly a book to try if you enjoyed works such as The Night Circus.

In a nutshell: this book absolutely blew me away.

Police officer, Virgil, takes Arden - an illusionist accused of murdering her husband on stage with an axe - back to the police station and spends the night trying to persuade her to confess. What follows is a Scheherazade-style to-and-fro.

Virgil's livelihood depends on being able to extract a confession. Arden's life depends on persuading him of her innocence.

Over the course of a single night Arden weaves the magical tale of her life story. Virgil must decide whether he believes her tale and whether he should release her or turn her over to his superiors.

If found guilty, she will be hanged.

What I thought of it: It's less what I thought of it and more about how it made me feel. I read so many books that usually I analyse as I go and can see what the author is trying to do, and how.

Greer Macallister, however, completely sucked me in with The Magician's Lie.

I spent the first third of the book feeling a little restless. I didn't really believe Arden, I felt it was obvious that she was an unreliable narrator and I was struggling to see the point of her meandering narrative of the early years of her life.

Somewhere around the halfway point I became completely invested and just could not stop reading. I had to know what happened. Which is much the same way I suspect Virgil would have felt, sitting in that dark police station listening to Arden tell her story.

The ending was perfect and not something I saw coming until the last few dozen pages. Looking back, though, there were clues and it seemed almost obvious.

Sort of like a magician's illusion, really.

While this book is compared to Water for Elephants the comparison is unjust. I see no real similarities and adored this book yet could not wait for Water for Elephants to end.
This is a book of illusion and murder. The story revolves around The Amazing Arden and the question of did she or didn't she kill her husband. Is this murder or possibly an illusion gone horribly wrong? I found The Amazing Arden or Ada as she goes by, a wonderful character. I also enjoyed the Virgil, the officer who finds and takes her into custody in hopes of finding the truth. The book kept me reading and was very satisfying.

This is a very well written and interesting read. I loved how the chapters switched back and forth. The characters were well developed and likable. Again I highly recommend this book.

I started this one with high hopes. I could see from early on that it had been written designed to appeal to fans of The Night Circus - it mingles the theatrical perfumed with whiffs of the supernatural. Still, while I enjoyed The Night Circus, it irritates me how many books have been written attempting to emulate its success. It makes sense to tap the market but you still have a feeling of a room full of publishers sitting around going, "That was incredibly successful, let's get another one of that," rather than an author being inspired and so choosing to write a book. Still, I have enjoyed several of The Night Circus' followers, most particularly The Illusionists and so came to this one with an open mind.


Macallister's novel begins with the magician describing her preparations for her routine in detail, the intensity of the performance and then she steps on to the stage. Watching her from the audience is Virgil Holt, kindly lawman with problems of his own. Later he hears that the Amazing Arden's husband has been found dead, that she is presumed to have killed him and when he spots her again, he feels obliged to detain her. Shackling Arden to the chair with not one, not two but three handcuffs, the two of them strike up an intense two-handed conversation as she tries to convince him of her innocence and to set her free.

The exchanges between Arden and Virgil were the most effective parts of the novel; tense, compelling, neither of them at all sure of the other. Virgil says so little and yet we see so much - he is the man who has always measured himself against his friend Mose and always came up short. Second choice in his wife's eyes, unable to give her the child she craves and now he has a bigger problem and no way of solving it. From our first glimpse of Arden as she readied herself for the stage, we know that she as unlike him as it is possible to be. Her words weave around him and we know that he will not stand a chance. The telephone may ring, a knock may sound at the door - Virgil is like Coleridge's Wedding Guest, he must hear the whole story.

The problem with Arden's story is not that Macallister cannot drum up a decent mystery - it is her failure to gather it back together again. There is plenty of potential; Arden is the misbegotten love-child of a talented cellist and grows up in her grandparents' wealthy home before being suddenly snatched away when her mother elopes. There are suggestions of eerie events afoot - for some strange reason there is a family tradition of dying the women's hair which is never explained, nor is the provenance of Arden's biological father or indeed whatever became of her mother after they parted ways. Macallister abandons so many threads that seem promising but then stirs in a supernatural thread which she never seems to know what to do with. It was interesting to note in the afterword that there had been multiple drafts and that some of them had not included this element - this book did not have a finished feel and I think a few more drafts would have helped.

Macallister has certainly got talent - she created a wonderful villain, a charismatic heroine and in Virgil we have an underdog for whom I really wanted to things to work but these gifts feel squandered in this book which feels bungled and forgettable. With such a promising opening, I was expecting a kind of The Usual Suspects scenario - there was such suspicion on Arden and with a title like The Magician's Lie, I hoped for a resolution that was not quite so predictable. The story spun stretched out in very straight lines and Virgil looked very under-used. This is not 'the new Night Circus', it is not even the new Illusionists, it is but a pale copy and is no more than briefly enjoyable.