Magic: A Novel is a psychological horror

Psychological horror

Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that relies on character fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by William Goldman

William Goldman

William Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.-Early life and education:...

. It was released in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in August 1976 by Delacorte Press. In 1978 Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

 directed a feature film adaptation of the story.

Plot summary

The novel concerns a man named Corky Withers, a shy, odd-tempered and alcoholic magician, whose lackluster performances start to turn around when he adds a ventriloquist's dummy, Fats, to the show. It chronicles Corky's childhood and adolescence, and his deep love for a high-school crush named Peggy Ann Snow. After seeing the increasingly disturbing connection to Fats, many people begin to worry about Corky. Although Corky thinks Fats is alive, and can not bear to be apart from Fats for a long period of time, his friends know that Fats is actually an outlet for a hidden homicidal trait in Corky's personality, and that he has multiple personality disorder. Soon, "Fats" begins to tell Corky to murder anyone that threatens their relationship. All these factors combine and quickly reach a shattering climax during a weekend at Peggy's home in the Catskills

Catskill Mountains

The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...

. The novel is written kaleidoscopically, changing time period, location, and point of view swiftly and leaving certain aspects of important events unknown for extended periods of time, especially concerning the identity of Fats the dummy for the early portion of the novel.