Christopher Priest Prestige

Prestige

Christopher Priest

Tor, Dec 2005, $14.95, 416 pp.

ISBN: 0312858868

Chronicle reporter Andrew Wesley receives the book, Secret Methods of Magic by Alfred Borden, from his adopted father who said a woman asked him to forward it to him. A note from K. Angier is sent to his editor offering information to Andrew on newsworthy Father Franklin. K. is Lady Katherine who sent him the Borden book; she claims they knew each other as children and that her father killed him. He has been haunted by similar memories feeling he shares his body with someone else. They team up looking at their respective family trees seeking the links.

Alfred Borden fanatically exposes those magicians he considers a fraud. In 1878, Alfred tries to prove that talented Rupert Angier is a con artist at a s ance that the latter and his spouse host. During a melee, the zealot pushes Rupert's pregnant wife causing a miscarriage. Outraged Rupert vows vengeance. As both rise in popularity, Alfred learns how to use the new science of electricity to transport from one spot to another. Rupert travels to Colorado to obtain the help of reclusive electricity guru Nicola Tesla. While Alfred's stunt is a parlor trick, Rupert obtains the genuine article. However, tragedy hits their descendants, including Andrew and Katherine, when Alfred pulls the plug on Tesla's gizmo as Rupert performs the stunt.

This exciting time paradoxical award winning thriller hooks the audience once the storyline reverts to the mid nineteenth century, and keeps readers guessing as to what is going on and will happen. The cast, past and present are fully developed so that the feud between Rupert and Alfred feels so real, that in turn makes them human and the curiosity of their descendants to learn the truth also feels genuine. Fans will appreciate the amateur sleuth modern day subplot, and the companion historical science fiction that blends into a superb thriller.