Book Review: Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin

Title: Mind Over Magic
Series: Psych #2
Author: William Rabkin
Publisher: Signet (July 1, 2009)
Genre: Mystery, TV tie-in

Format: Ebook
Length: Novel
Source: Purchased

Based on the hit USA network series. Shawn Spencer has convinced everyone he's psychic. Now, he's either going to clean up- or be found out.

Murder and Magic are all in the mind...

When a case takes Shawn and Gus into an exclusive club for professional magicians, they're treated to a private show by the hottest act on the Vegas Strip, "Martian Magician" P'tol P'kah. But when the wizard seemingly dissolves in a tank of water, he never rematerializes. And in his place there's a corpse in a three piece suit and a bowler hat.

Eager to keep his golden boy untarnished, the magician's manager hires Shawn and Gus to uncover the identity of the dead man and find out what happened to P'tol P'kah. But to do so, the pair will have to pose as a new mentalist act, and go undercover in a world populated by magicians, mystics, Martians-and one murderer...

Teaser: “Keep up, O’Hara. We’ve got to pull a drunken magician out of a whiskey bottle,” Lassiter snapped, not pausing on his way to the top. [25% Kindle Edition. I had to laugh. That’s so Lassiter!]

Review: Fans of Psych will enjoy the magic Mind Over Magic by William Rabkin creates between the characters.

Shawn and Gus are on another case involving a supposed Martian magician P’tol P’kah and murder. Told mainly from Gus’s point of view, the novel keeps the laughs coming. Like the TV show Psych, there are so many witty and funny lines. Rabkin has a spot-on grasp of these characters.

The novel is fast-paced, funny, and at times a tad absurd. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end.

If you can’t wait for the next season of Psych, then you might want to give William Rabkin’s Mind Over Magic a try.

Five Bookworms = I loved it!

Other Books in the Series:

Click here to read my review.

Book Review: PSYCH: A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO READ by William Rabkin

Title: Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read

Series: Psych #1

Author: William Rabkin

Publisher: Signet (January 6, 2009)

Format: Kindle eBook

Source: Purchased from Amazon

Genre: TV Mystery/Humor

Goodreads 

Description: Based on the hit usa network TELEVISION series

A tie-in readers will be totally psyched”about...

Shawn Spencer has convinced everyone he's psychic.

Now, HE HAS TO either clean up--or be found out…

After the PSYCH detective agency gets some top-notch publicity, Shawn's high-school nemesis, Dallas Steele, hires him to help choose his investments. Naturally, their predictions turn out to be total busts. And the deceptive Dallas is thrilled that he has completely discredited and humiliated Shawn once and for all--until he's found murdered.

But the police have a suspect found--at the scene with a smoking gun. And she says Shawn took control of her mind and forced her to do it. After all, he is a psychic...

Review: Fans of Psych will enjoy this new adventure of our favorite pseudo-psychic Shawn Spencer and his sidekick Burton Guster in Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read by William Rabkin.

When Shawn Spenser takes advantage of Gus once again, Gus lands into the hospital after his car is impounded and the man at the impound lot tries to kill them. When that same man ends up dead the next day, Shawn and Gus are on the case, if they can keep it in mind. With a psycho woman hanging onto Shawn’s every psychic thought and an old school nemesis needing their assistance, Shawn can’t keep his mind on the case at hand, but they must solve the case before this time Shawn lands up in jail as a fraud and much more.

Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read is a fun story based on the television show. The dialogue is spot-on, and I could hear and see the characters in my mind. The narration is sparse, and the novel often reads like a TV episode. Rabkin has a tendency to hop into other characters’ heads here and there, but the story is mainly told through Gus’s point of view as well as a bit of Shawn’s father’s. The plot is fast-paced and kept me guessing. The sarcasm and witty comebacks had me grinning and laughing out loud. Readers who are unfamiliar with the show probably would have a difficult time reading the book. And a personal side note, I would’ve loved to see more of Detective Carlton Lassiter’s character because he’s my favorite.

Overall, William Rabkin’s Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read is a fun and often humorous mystery novel that fans of Psych will likely enjoy.

Three Bookworms = I liked it!