THE ESCAPE ARTIST

In Prevost’s YA novel, an aspiring young magician stumbles into adventures that readers can help navigate.

Teenager Lester Honeycutt dreams of being the world’s greatest magician. The novel is structured like a Choose Your Own Adventure book; readers decide the choices that Lester will make. To begin with, should he go see famed escape artist Oudini, who’s performing Saturday in Lester’s town of Delaware? Or should he instead check out illusionist Heinrich, who has a show planned for the very same night? The Heinrich show promises intrigue; rumor has it that volunteers for his knife-throwing bit have been inexplicably disappearing. (“Heinrich does not stop the rumors because he never denies or affirms anything. Heinrich just is.”) When Lester gets the chance to work with these magicians, his narrative branches off in many different directions, sometimes roping in his girlfriend, Becky Carter, or his best friend, Niles Nerling. The book has many developments Lester can’t foresee, including a gang muscling into his business and trouble with a rival magician who copies Lester’s tricks. Prevost deftly showcases the butterfly effect, in which decisions to commit or avoid simple acts spin off into wildly divergent paths. The author smartly incorporates the supporting characters; certain decisions can ruin Lester’s future with Becky or leave Niles fuming. The many storylines rarely stray from the professional goals Lester has his eye on; he tries to prove his skills even when not in front of an audience. The endings are hard to predict, and Lester doesn’t make it in several of them. A few threads, however, don’t quite mesh; in one instance, Lester has been working with one illusionist before he begins to reflect on having worked with the other. Throughout this relatively compact text, Tarter’s artwork enlivens the pages with simple, sketchy black-and-white images that offer such memorable sights as death-defying stunts and Lester’s signature striped pants.

Entertaining escapades bolstered by a bevy of gleefully unpredictable endings.