When reading Matt Drabble's "Abra-Cadaver," I had a strong feeling of deja vu in the very best way. After finishing the first couple of chapters, I realized the book reminded me of some of the enjoyably ghoulish Vincent Price horror films of the 1970s like "Dr. Phibes" and "Theater of Blood." I further realized that Drabble had done himself (and Price) proud with this novel... my only regret when I finished it was that Price wasn't around to play the role of the killer.
"Abra-Cadaver" is a tale of magic gone wrong, not the witches and warlocks type, but the Siegfried and Roy type. A fourth-rate magician named The Captivating Cosmo X is hired to perform at the birthday party of 12-year-old Tommy Ross, but his signature guillotine trick goes wrong and his assistant, who also happened to be his wife, loses her head. The dead woman was the daughter of the town's wealthiest man, and he rigs the ensuing trial by bribing some key figures like the defense attorney and jury foreman to make sure Cosmo is convicted on murder charges. Actually, the death may well have been an accident since Tommy and his friends were playing around with Cosmo's equipment before the show and might have accidentally damaged the guillotine's safety switch. But they are afraid and remain silent and Cosmo goes away.
Fast forward a couple of dozen years, and Tommy is returning to town after a long absence. Also returning to town is Cosmo, who has escaped from the nut hatch and now wants revenge against everyone who did him wrong. In the best tradition of the Price movies, Cosmo isn't just content to kill his victims... instead, he stages each death so that it resembles a classic magic trick (like the Indian rope trick) that goes awry with fatal consequences for the victims who serve as Cosmo's unwilling assistants.
For those not offended by the thought of blood and gore, this book is a lot of fun. Cosmo is totally nuts, but he is also a true showman as he parades around town in the tattered remnants of his magician's costume, and his rather elaborate murder scenarios are ingenious and entertaining. However, the book isn't merely a collection of death scenes. There's a lot of melodramatic soap operaish elements here as well. Tommy and his four friends have dealt with guilt feelings since the original accident and none of them have handled it particularly well. His return and the murders heighten the tension among the group members, and emotions flare. These segments of the book are almost as over-the-top as Cosmo's murders, but they are equally entertaining.
Drabble's plot is complex, and it gets more twisted as it goes along. In true soap opera fashion, the various characters wind up being more closely connected than they initially seem. Of course, these plot twists come at the expense of credibility. There's enough logic holes in this one to drive a truck through, and the various characters' schemes don't seem all that plausible, but these details don't really matter. This is over-the-top Grand Guignol-styled entertainment, and Drabble keeps things moving at a rapid clip, leading up to a big surprise reveal near the end and a literal cliffhanger ending followed by another twist.
For me, "Abra-Cadaver" was too grandiose and outlandish to be particularly scary, but I didn't mind one bit. The aforementioned Price movies weren't all that scary either, but the fun was watching Price's schemes unfold and him hamming it up like crazy. Drabble actually expands the landscape of outlandishness in this book beyond crazy Cosmo. There are other characters who get to chew the scenery in addition to Cosmo, and there are other schemes and emotional outbursts as well. Good magicians know that the actual trick is usually very simple; what makes the trick memorable and entertaining is the showmanship. Matt Drabble provides enough showmanship here to make Harry Houdini happy. "Abra-Cadaver" is no illusion; it's a definite crowd pleaser.
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Top reviews from other countries
San 01
Great story with a twist
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 11, 2022
mick ascroft
Hard to put down
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 20, 2017
