Review: Action-packed adventure, ‘The Illusionist’s Apprentice’, falls flat

By Terri Leblanc, correspondent

‘The Illusionist's Apprentice” by Kristy Cambron is another historical fiction novel featuring a strong female character with a bit of mystery rooted in historical fact. The story features Wren Lockhart, fictional apprentice of Harry Houdini, as a presence in the story that leapt off the pages wearing tailored suits with a gruff exterior hiding a secret past. It's unfortunate that the other characters populating the page couldn't rise to meet her and were mere cutouts fulfilling the standard mystery tropes - the angry alcoholic father, the jealous ex-friend, the lovesick cop with his own secret past and the steadfast servant.

The book struggles with the type novel it wants to be. It isn't clear whether 'The Illusionist's Apprentice” is a mystery, or a character-driven story of self-discovery or a Christian-rooted fiction novel. None of the themes comes through particularly strongly. The plot is action-packed, but the 1926 storyline doesn't mesh well with Wren's flashbacks, which unfold haphazardly and spoiled a key revelation. As a result at the end the reader is left a bit let down after so much forward momentum to reach the multiple reveals. So much time is spent trying to figure out who Wren is and why she is the way she is that the who-dun-it reveal is lackluster and leaves the reader thinking, 'Really, it was that person?”

'The Illusionist's Apprentice” has lots of action Wren is an intriguing female character and the city of Boston and its many historical sites come to life within the novel. However, the plot as a whole fails to stick together upon closer examination. It feels as if too much is trying to be accomplished in 356 pages leaving the reader feeling underwhelmed by the end.