A Deadly Game of Magic

Nixon, J. L. (1983). A deadly game of magic. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Plot Summary

                      Following an out of town school activity, classmates but not-quite-friends Lisa, Teena, Bo, and Julian find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere during a dangerous rainstorm.  The bearded inhabitant of a house they happen upon offers to let them wait for the tow truck indoors – but he quickly leaves under mysterious circumstances and the four teens are at odds about whether to remain alone in a stranger’s house.  The weather forces their decision, however, and they decide to tough out the storm.  Derived from clues found all around them, they determine that the elderly widow of a magician lives there, and that she kept all of her husband’s creepy tricks and equipment after he was tragically burned to death.  Almost immediately, odd occurrences begin popping up all over the house.  More and more it seems that they are not alone and that whatever is lurking in the darkness wants them out.  Fortunately Lisa has a personal interest in magic and can decode many of the illusions they are seeing – but what they cannot decode is whether the presence in the house is living or dead, or both.

Critical Analysis

                          The most effective tension in this novel is achieved by the questions posed by Nixon that are teasingly unanswered throughout the course of the story.  What lurks in the back room that scared the tow truck driver enough for him to pass out and then bolt, leaving the four teenagers stranded there?  Are these strange experiences real magic tricks or supernatural occurrences?  Is the magician who was married to the resident of the house really dead and back from the grave, or did she stage his death and now he is out for revenge?  The reader vacillates back and forth between believing one thing and another as Nixon slowly develops this story.  There are some very effective creepy clues, such as the continual imagery of missing or disembodied heads in paper dolls, plaster replicas placed on a stack of pillows, a stuffed sweater set upright in a chair, and an illusion performed with the unconscious body of one of the teens.  There is also the sly mention of a small guillotine in the beginning of the story and the issue of its missing full-size mate, since, as Lisa says, they always come in a set.  This detail is raised and then dropped, only to be brought up again at the end of the story when the reader can finally infer what grisly scene is in the room at the end of the hall.  The characters each have personal issues they are struggling with in their lives and, throughout the course of this difficult night, they individually come clean about who they really want to be, separate from who their parents are pressuring them to be.  There is an element of symbolism in Nixon’s use of illusions, as the characters are sustaining their own personal illusions by behaving in ways that their parents want them to.  There are parts of this book that are a little bit too pat and convenient to be credible, such as the fact that Lisa just happens to know everything about magic and understands all of the old equipment, and the fact that the competition they just participated in involved miming so they have the necessary black costumes to remain hidden and fool the magician, but this novel is fun and suspenseful and suspending disbelief is not too much of a hardship.

Reader’s Annotation

                                  When four classmates suffer a car breakdown in the middle of a downpour, they are forced to wait for the tow truck inside a creepy house.  Strange, threatening occurrences start happening all at once inside the house and they must use their wits and teamwork in order to survive until morning.

About the Author

                            Joan Lowery Nixon began writing before she could even read, by dictating her work to her mother.  She grew up in Hollywood and had her first work published at the age of ten, in a children’s magazine.  She attended college for journalism, but later became more interested in fiction writing – mysteries in particular.     

                            Nixon wrote over 100 books total, including picture books, mysteries, and historical novels.  She won many awards, most notably the Edgar Award for mystery novels, which was given to her four times.  She was a member of the Author’s Guild and a board member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers.  She passed away in Houston, TX in 2003.

Genre

         Mystery/Suspense - suspense

Challenge Issues

                          Possible challenge issues in this book include magic.  In the event of a challenge, I would consult the challenge defense file prepared for this book.  The challenge defense file would include: positive reviews from credible sources for the purpose of proving merit to the challenger; negative reviews in order to inform me on what might be challenged; a written explanation of my own rationale for including the book in the collection as well as a summary of the plot; the American Library Association Bill of Rights; a review of my branch’s selection policy; and, as a last resort, an explanation of the reconsideration policy for my library and an official reconsideration form.

Curriculum Ties

                         English and Writing: suspense and symbolism.

Booktalk

              Stranded in a creepy house with a group of classmates who aren't really your friends, assaulted on all sides by illusions or are they the work of a ghostly presence, a strangely silent back room that seems to hold a secret too terrible to look at - this is what Lisa and her three teammates face on their way back from a school tournament.  Throw in a terrible storm that knocks out the power and the phones and you have a very suspenseful novel that will keep you guessing.

Reading Level and Interest Age

                                                    Grades 7-11.

                                                  

Why I Included This Book

                                          This is a suspense novel at its heart, but there are deeper issues addressed in the story as well, such as identity and parental pressures to achieve.  It is a fun book, a page-turner for sure, and there is a deeper message that may ring with young adult readers in ways they did not expect. 

References

Joan Lowery Nixon.  (2011). Scholastic.com. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/joan-lowery-nixon