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nuthatch's review
5.0
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a mystery that is a bit "different."
ridgewaygirl's review
4.0
William dropped out of university years ago. He was convinced that magic was due for a comeback and as a conjurer, he was headed for the big time. It wasn't and neither was he. A decade later he's drinking too much and taking the small jobs his agent sends his way. One of these leads to a side job to steal an envelope after a job at a strip club. He still had the envelope when the people who hired him are murdered and he flees to Berlin, to a steady gig at an Erotische Cabaret.
Welsh wrote an excellent debut novel, The Cutting Room and this book continues in the same dark vein. William is a man who has come not to expect much from people or life, and is rarely disappointed. He's still basically an ethical man, no matter the ease at which he accepts the odd bribe to look the other way, and willing to confront his own incriminating acts if necessary.
Welsh wrote an excellent debut novel, The Cutting Room and this book continues in the same dark vein. William is a man who has come not to expect much from people or life, and is rarely disappointed. He's still basically an ethical man, no matter the ease at which he accepts the odd bribe to look the other way, and willing to confront his own incriminating acts if necessary.
kcfromaustcrime's review
5.0
Stage magician William Wilson lives a pretty hand to mouth type of existence as an opening act. In these way past vaudeville days, a stage magician is not really all that in demand. He also doesn't get many gigs at retirement parties for policemen, but Detective Inspector James Montgomery has the nickname of “The Magician” and somebody thought Wilson's appearance would be funny. The stage show certainly goes okay, but afterwards the reason why he's the particular magician asked to do the gig is revealed. It seems that Montgomery is carrying something in his wallet that Bill, the owner of the club hosting the party, really wants. And Wilson does a very good line in pocket dipping.
Despite Wilson not wanting to get involved, there are a lot of reasons to reconsider, not least of all a large number of bookie IOU's, now in Bill's hands, so the envelope is stolen. Wilson then has to scarper out the back of the club holding the envelope for safe-keeping when Montgomery realises it's gone and tackles Bill and his partner Sam to get it back. Sending the envelope on to his mother for safekeeping, Wilson has gone to Berlin to work in a club there, when he hears that Bill and Sam have been found dead in the club, and Montgomery starts ringing Wilson's mobile phone.
In Berlin, Wilson hooks up with Sylvie who performs in his act, despite there being something very reckless about her, and something really weird about her background and her Uncle Dix – is he or isn't he really her uncle and what is it about both of them that's just not quite right. And now, a veil really must be drawn to avoid giving away anything. Suffice to say that Wilson has found himself eventually back in the UK, avoiding Montgomery, intrigued by what was in the envelope; what happened to Bill and Sam; and tortured by events in Berlin.
The book switches viewpoint chapter by chapter, from the events that lead up to the time that Wilson spends in Berlin and where he is post Berlin – back in the UK, despondent, drifting and lost.
As with her first book, THE CUTTING ROOM, Welsh has again created a complicated character set of characters. The motivation for Wilson's investigating the contents of the envelope are a bit vague / quixotic; the reasons for him drifting lost after Berlin could be read as incomprehensible by the sensible / reasonable amongst us. Sylvie's motivations are never clear, her background left sufficiently ambiguous that you can leap to all sorts of conclusions, but the evidence might just not be there. Again, there's a strong, gloriously over the top cast of supporting characters, right down to Wilson's agent and his secretary. The secretary is but a brief pencil sketch in terms of the overall novel, but it's so powerfully written – she's a marvellous inconsequential character. One of the strength's of Welsh's is the marvellous ambiguity of many of the characters actions, the strength of the characterisation – be they “nice” or “nasty”. There's always a feeling that you'd know these people if you saw them in a pub.
And finally there's atmosphere. In The Cutting Room there was a lovely feeling of the voyeuristic, dusty, dirty clearing out of other people's houses. THE BULLET TRICK is a stagey, magical, high camp performance; but not so far behind the spotlight there's a back stage area where the tissues are used and the carpets are dirty and the cigarette smoke's stained the walls yellow. Highly recommended.
Despite Wilson not wanting to get involved, there are a lot of reasons to reconsider, not least of all a large number of bookie IOU's, now in Bill's hands, so the envelope is stolen. Wilson then has to scarper out the back of the club holding the envelope for safe-keeping when Montgomery realises it's gone and tackles Bill and his partner Sam to get it back. Sending the envelope on to his mother for safekeeping, Wilson has gone to Berlin to work in a club there, when he hears that Bill and Sam have been found dead in the club, and Montgomery starts ringing Wilson's mobile phone.
In Berlin, Wilson hooks up with Sylvie who performs in his act, despite there being something very reckless about her, and something really weird about her background and her Uncle Dix – is he or isn't he really her uncle and what is it about both of them that's just not quite right. And now, a veil really must be drawn to avoid giving away anything. Suffice to say that Wilson has found himself eventually back in the UK, avoiding Montgomery, intrigued by what was in the envelope; what happened to Bill and Sam; and tortured by events in Berlin.
The book switches viewpoint chapter by chapter, from the events that lead up to the time that Wilson spends in Berlin and where he is post Berlin – back in the UK, despondent, drifting and lost.
As with her first book, THE CUTTING ROOM, Welsh has again created a complicated character set of characters. The motivation for Wilson's investigating the contents of the envelope are a bit vague / quixotic; the reasons for him drifting lost after Berlin could be read as incomprehensible by the sensible / reasonable amongst us. Sylvie's motivations are never clear, her background left sufficiently ambiguous that you can leap to all sorts of conclusions, but the evidence might just not be there. Again, there's a strong, gloriously over the top cast of supporting characters, right down to Wilson's agent and his secretary. The secretary is but a brief pencil sketch in terms of the overall novel, but it's so powerfully written – she's a marvellous inconsequential character. One of the strength's of Welsh's is the marvellous ambiguity of many of the characters actions, the strength of the characterisation – be they “nice” or “nasty”. There's always a feeling that you'd know these people if you saw them in a pub.
And finally there's atmosphere. In The Cutting Room there was a lovely feeling of the voyeuristic, dusty, dirty clearing out of other people's houses. THE BULLET TRICK is a stagey, magical, high camp performance; but not so far behind the spotlight there's a back stage area where the tissues are used and the carpets are dirty and the cigarette smoke's stained the walls yellow. Highly recommended.
andintothetrees's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book – and I loved Louise Welsh’s debut novel, The Cutting Room – but I was left with a feeling of nothing but disappointment once I got to the end. Perhaps because The Cutting Room instilled within me high expectations, or perhaps just because it just wasn’t very good.
... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/the-bullet-trick-by-louise-welsh/]
... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2011/12/17/the-bullet-trick-by-louise-welsh/]
nocto's review
3.0
I'd put this somewhere on the up side of average. A bit slow in the beginning and not an author I'm going to race around looking for, though perhaps one I will read again. So it quite surprised me when I found her mentioned online as one of the big new names taking crime writing into the literary bit of mainstream fiction. I liked the plot and some of the characters (bit players better drawn than the major parts) but didn't think the writing was anything to get excited about.
borborygmus's review against another edition
4.0
Not as good as Welsh's opening trick, the fine "The Cutting Room", but plenty of echoes of that book. Worth reading, albeit a bit dour.
lostinthelibrary's review against another edition
2.0
Like most books with dual timelines, one plot was much more interesting than the other. If this was only the Berlin story it would have been a much better book. It also did that annoying trope when it kept alluding to 'that awful thing'. I know they were trying to build tension but it took all the shock out of the event when it happened.
Overall, I didn't warm to it.
Overall, I didn't warm to it.
pescarox's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointing because I loved The Cutting Room so much. The main character just didn’t have what the other guy had.
albatrossonhalfpointe's review against another edition
2.0
When down-at-heel conjurer William Wilson gets booked for a string of cabaret gigs in Berlin, he is hoping his luck is on the turn. There were certain spectators from his last show he'd rather forget.
Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground William can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him, and the line between the act and reality starts to blur.
Bringing the seedy glamour of the burlesque scene magnificantly to life, Louise Welsh's deft contemporary tale is her richest and most macabre yet. The Bullet Trick is also an unputdownable thriller that will keep you guessing till its final explosive flourish.
This book did not live up to the hype. At all. And, in addition to the last sentence of the blurb there, there are also five very effusive endorsements from other authors, all of which make me very dubious about the quality of their writing, if they're so impressed by Welsh's. Because really, it was not only not as exciting as they all promised, but it was actually quite dull.
For one thing, the blurb kind of implies that the really horrible thing happened before he went to Berlin, and that he went to Berlin to escape it, only to have it catch up to him there. But the really horrible thing happened in Berlin, and he went back to Scotland to try and drown his sorrows about it.
In basically an entirely separate and unrelated story, there's the thing he was actually trying to escape in Berlin. Which didn't even have anything to do with him. Now, people frequently get embroiled in things that have nothing to do with them in books, but when that happens, usually whatever the thing was will somehow became entwined in whatever the character's current situation is, and it will end up having to do with the character in question. This one didn't. There was this secret about the disappearance of the mother of the boyfriend of an old friend of the narrator's. And that's as close as it ever gets, except for the fact that William does end up in possession of a piece of evidence in the matter, and thus finds himself marginally involved. But never in a thrilling sort of way or anything. It's just there, and he's a practically disinterested bystander.
The other thing, the one that happens in Berlin, barely really fits into the story at all, except that it's the reason he's back in Glasgow, drinking himself into oblivion. Then the twist at the end happens, and it's not quite "and then he woke up," but it has almost that kind of feel to it. It certainly wouldn't qualify as an "explosive flourish."
All of which led to the book feeling very aimless for at least half the duration. We didn't know anything about the horrible thing that was going to happen in Berlin (although I did start to guess), and not much about the other thing, either. And it alternated most of the way between chapters in Berlin, in the past, and chapters in Glasgow, in the present. With a few chapters of even older past thrown in to help confuse matters further, so the first part of the book was not only a little dull, but a touch confusing and disorienting, too.
So all in all, not one I was fond of, and one that falls pretty firmly on the "Don't bother" list.
Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground William can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him, and the line between the act and reality starts to blur.
Bringing the seedy glamour of the burlesque scene magnificantly to life, Louise Welsh's deft contemporary tale is her richest and most macabre yet. The Bullet Trick is also an unputdownable thriller that will keep you guessing till its final explosive flourish.
This book did not live up to the hype. At all. And, in addition to the last sentence of the blurb there, there are also five very effusive endorsements from other authors, all of which make me very dubious about the quality of their writing, if they're so impressed by Welsh's. Because really, it was not only not as exciting as they all promised, but it was actually quite dull.
For one thing, the blurb kind of implies that the really horrible thing happened before he went to Berlin, and that he went to Berlin to escape it, only to have it catch up to him there. But the really horrible thing happened in Berlin, and he went back to Scotland to try and drown his sorrows about it.
In basically an entirely separate and unrelated story, there's the thing he was actually trying to escape in Berlin. Which didn't even have anything to do with him. Now, people frequently get embroiled in things that have nothing to do with them in books, but when that happens, usually whatever the thing was will somehow became entwined in whatever the character's current situation is, and it will end up having to do with the character in question. This one didn't. There was this secret about the disappearance of the mother of the boyfriend of an old friend of the narrator's. And that's as close as it ever gets, except for the fact that William does end up in possession of a piece of evidence in the matter, and thus finds himself marginally involved. But never in a thrilling sort of way or anything. It's just there, and he's a practically disinterested bystander.
The other thing, the one that happens in Berlin, barely really fits into the story at all, except that it's the reason he's back in Glasgow, drinking himself into oblivion. Then the twist at the end happens, and it's not quite "and then he woke up," but it has almost that kind of feel to it. It certainly wouldn't qualify as an "explosive flourish."
All of which led to the book feeling very aimless for at least half the duration. We didn't know anything about the horrible thing that was going to happen in Berlin (although I did start to guess), and not much about the other thing, either. And it alternated most of the way between chapters in Berlin, in the past, and chapters in Glasgow, in the present. With a few chapters of even older past thrown in to help confuse matters further, so the first part of the book was not only a little dull, but a touch confusing and disorienting, too.
So all in all, not one I was fond of, and one that falls pretty firmly on the "Don't bother" list.