Stage magician William Wilson lives a pretty hand to mouth type of existence as an opening act. In these way past vaudeville days, a stage magician is not really all that in demand. He also doesn't get many gigs at retirement parties for policemen, but Detective Inspector James Montgomery has the nickname of “The Magician” and somebody thought Wilson's appearance would be funny. The stage show certainly goes okay, but afterwards the reason why he's the particular magician asked to do the gig is revealed. It seems that Montgomery is carrying something in his wallet that Bill, the owner of the club hosting the party, really wants. And Wilson does a very good line in pocket dipping.Despite Wilson not wanting to get involved, there are a lot of reasons to reconsider, not least of all a large number of bookie IOU's, now in Bill's hands, so the envelope is stolen. Wilson then has to scarper out the back of the club holding the envelope for safe-keeping when Montgomery realises it's gone and tackles Bill and his partner Sam to get it back. Sending the envelope on to his mother for safekeeping, Wilson has gone to Berlin to work in a club there, when he hears that Bill and Sam have been found dead in the club, and Montgomery starts ringing Wilson's mobile phone.In Berlin, Wilson hooks up with Sylvie who performs in his act, despite there being something very reckless about her, and something really weird about her background and her Uncle Dix – is he or isn't he really her uncle and what is it about both of them that's just not quite right. And now, a veil really must be drawn to avoid giving away anything. Suffice to say that Wilson has found himself eventually back in the UK, avoiding Montgomery, intrigued by what was in the envelope; what happened to Bill and Sam; and tortured by events in Berlin.The book switches viewpoint chapter by chapter, from the events that lead up to the time that Wilson spends in Berlin and where he is post Berlin – back in the UK, despondent, drifting and lost.As with her first book, THE CUTTING ROOM, Welsh has again created a complicated character set of characters. The motivation for Wilson's investigating the contents of the envelope are a bit vague / quixotic; the reasons for him drifting lost after Berlin could be read as incomprehensible by the sensible / reasonable amongst us. Sylvie's motivations are never clear, her background left sufficiently ambiguous that you can leap to all sorts of conclusions, but the evidence might just not be there. Again, there's a strong, gloriously over the top cast of supporting characters, right down to Wilson's agent and his secretary. The secretary is but a brief pencil sketch in terms of the overall novel, but it's so powerfully written – she's a marvellous inconsequential character. One of the strength's of Welsh's is the marvellous ambiguity of many of the characters actions, the strength of the characterisation – be they “nice” or “nasty”. There's always a feeling that you'd know these people if you saw them in a pub.And finally there's atmosphere. In The Cutting Room there was a lovely feeling of the voyeuristic, dusty, dirty clearing out of other people's houses. THE BULLET TRICK is a stagey, magical, high camp performance; but not so far behind the spotlight there's a back stage area where the tissues are used and the carpets are dirty and the cigarette smoke's stained the walls yellow. Highly recommended.
Louise Welsh was born in London, England on 1 Februaury 1965. She is now based in Glasgow, Scotland where she studied history at Glasgow University. She then established a second-hand bookshop, where she traded in books for many years.Her first novel was The Cutting Room which won several awards, including the 2002 John Creasey Award, by the Crime Writers’ Association. Also, it was jointly awarded the 2002 First Book of the Year Award by the Saltire Society Scottish. Ms Welsh was granted a Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award in 2003, a Scotland on Sunday/Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award in 2004, and a Hawthornden Fellowship in 2005. She is a highly acclaimed writer. In addition to this, Ms Welsh works as a radio broadcaster. She has also published many short stories, and contributed articles and reviews to many British newspapers. She has written for the stage too.Louise Welsh made a considerable mark with that first book The Bullet Trick is her second novel. It was book of the month at our book group. It is a highly entertaining, and sometimes confusing story. The fiction is eccentric and unabashed. The author does not shy away from presenting the reader with the extreme forms of human behaviour. The Bullet Trick starts in Glasgow. In this novel, the protagonist is a Glaswegian conjurer who has seen better days. The author has christened her anti-hero William Wilson. This is the same name that Edgar Allen Poe chose for his hero in a story about sinister duality. (It was also the name of the Professor at Edinburgh University who taught me Mercantile Law. It is not a very unusual name in Scotland, but there may be a connection with Poe!)In Welsh's book, Wilson is desperate to escape from his boring existence in Glasgow. He jumps at the chance to perform his conjuring tricks in the cabarets of Berlin. This allows him to leave people behind who he wants out of his life. The changes he experiences in this free and easy foreign city seems like the best move of his career. But Welsh implies that Wilson's problems really lie within himself. The external danger he encounters show a manifestation of the sickness in his own soul. Nevertheless, The Bullet Trick is not a depressing read at all.This book is plotted and full of flamboyant characters. Welsh's second novel is also quite different from her first. That alone marks her out from many of her contemporaries. However, although this is a story that shoots for the gothic and carnivalesque, it did not quite hit the mark for me.The story of William Wilson switches between Glasgow, London and Berlin. He is a magician on the last leg of a faltering career. Then, his old friend asks him to do a show in a London strip club. However, what happens during the show drags Wilson into the violent aftermath of an old missing person’s case. The author describes Wilson’s burlesque underground world very well. The quirky showmen and drifters he meets along the way are interesting, but not memorable.Louise Welsh’s writing style is playful and the language is alluring. The real disappointment is William Wilson’s eventual show-down with the killer. William Wilson is a rather unlikely hero.I found this to be an interesting read and it is well written. However, it is not for the prudish. Otherwise, It is worth reading
Do You like book The Bullet Trick (2007)?
There's a lot I liked about The Bullet Trick. The world Welsh creates is detailed and fascinating and the down-on-his-luck magician is a compelling character. Later in the book, especially back in Glasgow, there was something that just didn't quite work for me: maybe it was just too grim. It felt like it could have done with just a few more moments of hope to offset the 'everything's depraved and corrupt and hopeless' feel - without that, it got just slightly wearing. Doesn't stop it being an easy **** read, though.
—Tanya Korval
When down-at-heel conjurer William Wilson gets booked for a string of cabaret gigs in Berlin, he is hoping his luck is on the turn. There were certain spectators from his last show he'd rather forget. Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground William can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him, and the line between the act and reality starts to blur. Bringing the seedy glamour of the burlesque scene magnificantly to life, Louise Welsh's deft contemporary tale is her richest and most macabre yet. The Bullet Trick is also an unputdownable thriller that will keep you guessing till its final explosive flourish.This book did not live up to the hype. At all. And, in addition to the last sentence of the blurb there, there are also five very effusive endorsements from other authors, all of which make me very dubious about the quality of their writing, if they're so impressed by Welsh's. Because really, it was not only not as exciting as they all promised, but it was actually quite dull. For one thing, the blurb kind of implies that the really horrible thing happened before he went to Berlin, and that he went to Berlin to escape it, only to have it catch up to him there. But the really horrible thing happened in Berlin, and he went back to Scotland to try and drown his sorrows about it. In basically an entirely separate and unrelated story, there's the thing he was actually trying to escape in Berlin. Which didn't even have anything to do with him. Now, people frequently get embroiled in things that have nothing to do with them in books, but when that happens, usually whatever the thing was will somehow became entwined in whatever the character's current situation is, and it will end up having to do with the character in question. This one didn't. There was this secret about the disappearance of the mother of the boyfriend of an old friend of the narrator's. And that's as close as it ever gets, except for the fact that William does end up in possession of a piece of evidence in the matter, and thus finds himself marginally involved. But never in a thrilling sort of way or anything. It's just there, and he's a practically disinterested bystander. The other thing, the one that happens in Berlin, barely really fits into the story at all, except that it's the reason he's back in Glasgow, drinking himself into oblivion. Then the twist at the end happens, and it's not quite "and then he woke up," but it has almost that kind of feel to it. It certainly wouldn't qualify as an "explosive flourish."All of which led to the book feeling very aimless for at least half the duration. We didn't know anything about the horrible thing that was going to happen in Berlin (although I did start to guess), and not much about the other thing, either. And it alternated most of the way between chapters in Berlin, in the past, and chapters in Glasgow, in the present. With a few chapters of even older past thrown in to help confuse matters further, so the first part of the book was not only a little dull, but a touch confusing and disorienting, too.So all in all, not one I was fond of, and one that falls pretty firmly on the "Don't bother" list.
—kingshearte
Conjurer, magician - William Wilson specializes in the slight of hand. He's pretty much down and out in London and then he gets a gig in Berlin fronting for strippers. Welsh is wonderful, showing the seedy side of Berlin and the despicable side of her characters. Redemption? Innate goodness? Innocence? William Wilson has some naivete somewhere, but he's the only one, and of course as is noir, he's the loser. --Ashland Mystery
—Ashland Mystery Oregon
