A review by dankeohane
The Box Jumper by Lisa Mannetti

4.0

This is quite an original short novel. As if written, and read, in a fever dream. That's not a bad thing, in fact this book is quite fascinating, following the narrator Leona in the years after Harry Houdini's death. She was his long time assistant (known in the industry as a 'box jumper') and best friend. The book alternates between various moments in time and stages of their relationship, focusing on Houdini's obsession with debunking the many psychic mediums of the day who claimed to speak to the dead. As the story unfolds in an almost stream of consciousness, nonlinear way, it becomes darker and darker, with the narrator trying to convince us, or herself, that some of these events were not real. Or they were. It's a great take on the unreliable narrator point of few and The Box Jumper slowly, craftily pulls you in deeper into itself. Nice job, this one.