Book Review: The Confabulist: A Novel by Steven Galloway

The Confabulist: A Novel by Steven Galloway
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: May 6, 2014
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

The Confabulist is the story of Martin Strauss and Harry Houdini. In the first pages of the book, Martin reveals that he killed Harry Houdini, not once but twice. The rest of the book follows the separate lives of Martin and Houdini until the mystery of how their lives intersect is revealed. Martin is a purely fictional character and while basic outline Houdini’s life is accurate, much of it is made up, which author Steven Galloway, freely admits in his Author’s Note. He also states that he makes no claim of veracity for his descriptions of the methods behind magic.

Galloway’s made up story of Houdini’s life is intriguing and compelling. Even though it’s not true, it’s definitely realistic.

Strauss suffers from a medical condition in which he conjures false memories and thinks they are true. Thus, he is an unreliable narrator. Just how unreliable isn’t revealed until the end in a surprise twist ending.

I enjoyed this book for just for being a great book. Even if there was no real-life Houdini and Galloway had invented the character all together, this is a fantastic mystery full of suspense. After I finished the book, I felt like I was in as much of a fog as Martin is in his old age, not sure of what’s real and what’s not. Usually, I prefer a straight forward, everything wrapped up in a nice little package with a bow type of ending but Galloway managed to satisfy me with the ending he wrote. That’s high praise from me. Both mystery and historical fiction fans will enjoy this book.The Confabulist comes out today!

(I received a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher.)