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Jeremy Dyson is co-creator of the West End hit play and film Ghost Stories, and a founding member of the team behind award-winning BBC series The League of Gentlemen. He has written for and script edited many series, including Killing Eve. He is the writer of a novel and three collections of short stories, one the Edge Hill award winner The Crane that Builds the Cranes.
BBC, ITV, Hartswood & Sister Among Seven TV Companies Investigated Over Possible Breaches Of Antitrust Laws When Hiring Freelance Crew There is nothing unconsidered in this book, love, war, pain, friends, betrayal and magic. I still don’t know if I want a sequel or I want Louis to have some peace. Man about town, denizen of Soho’s nightclubs and cabaret bars – and the most skilled magician of his time . . . That took me to the blurb which sounded so delicious it rendered me powerless to resist. So I didn't! I particularly liked how Louis’ ‘Brains Trust’ worked together to solve mysteries, although Louis was the only character we got to know really well as we followed him on his journey.
A British Secret Service agent recruits him for a mission which requires his sleight of hand skills. But is he dealing with a double agent? He is being used by someone. Are his handlers British? Soviets? Louis is taken against his will, removed from his friends and fiancée and thrust into a Kafka-esque world of mind games. He is sent behind Soviet lines into Czechoslavakia to investigate the sinister ‘Funhouse’, where it seems magicians can even fool magicians. I hated and loved this book. To have the power to remind me of the stories I heard growing up about the holocaust and then make me laugh at a brilliant range of believably eccentric friends is beyond talent, it’s magic. Coupled with the events of the novel, it ends up being quite harrowing and traumatic for the protagonist and the reader. I’m not going to tell you anything about this book as it needs to be read to appreciate its uniqueness. Man about town, denizen of Soho’s nightclubs and cabaret bars and the most skilled magician of his time…
Vertue said: “This book is a rollercoaster. A gorgeous period setting in the ‘50s with a very different kind of hero – plus magic and espionage and cliffhanger after cliffhanger. We couldn’t put it down – and when we make it, audiences won’t be able to switch it off.”Dyson said: “We grew up in an era when you had things like The Amazing World of Kreskin on TV at lunchtimes and Uri Geller, and these things were presented to you as something that was absolutely real.”
But then Louis agrees to spy for the British government (it's the height of the Cold War), and things grow far darker and messier. The tale becomes more psychological, the conflict more internal. Interwoven into Louis's tale are snippets from a primer on magic that he has written -- but there are strange passages that make us wonder what is really going on. Man about town, denizen of Soho's nightclubs and cabaret bars - and the most skilled magician of his time . . . The bookstore be closed on November 1rst for the bank holiday. Operations will resume the following day. THE SUNDAY TIMES THRILLER OF THE MONTH**A THE TIMES BEST THRILLER FOR APRIL**OPTIONED FOR TELEVISION IN A SEVEN-WAY AUCTION*'Delightful' THE TIMES'Enthralling' THE SUNDAY TIMES'A serpentine thriller' SPECTATOR'A pure delight' NEIL GAIMAN'All the hallmarks of a modern classic' ADAM KAY'Two great masters join forces to explosive effect' RICHARD OSMAN'Huge fun - gripping and very clever. The debut novel, about a magician who flees Nazi Germany and is lured into espionage, was written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, creators of the Ghost Stories theatre production.Spycraft and magic have always been strange but agreeable bedfellows, and a recent trend for merging both branches of the dark arts is gathering momentum in fiction. RYAN'The period atmosphere and the Cold War detail feel like a Le Carre but it's the characters you really care about. All the hallmarks of a modern classic, with more twists and turns than the intestinal tract -- Adam Kay Hive Store Ltd 2020. (hive.co.uk) is registered in England. Company number: 07300106. VAT number: 444950437.
The lines between fact and fiction blur even further with documented cases of the real-life intelligence services trying to tap into the paranormal, most famously recounted in Jon Ronson’s book (and then film) The Men Who Stare at Goats, an investigation into how American military tried to tap into and weaponise psychic abilities.Intriguing and completely original, this Cold War spy novel is just what every bookshelf needs’ W.C. RYAN The period atmosphere and the Cold War detail feel like a Le Carre but it's the characters you really care about. Exactly like some of the magic it describes, the odd sleight of hand or false deception wrapped around a terrific mystery.' IAN MOORE
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