Mrs. Houdini by Victoria Kelly

You'll wish you could do a disappearing act in Victoria Kelly's Mrs. Houdini, a historical fiction novel about the love of Harry and Bess Houdini and how death can't even keep two lovers apart.  

Bess Houdini was given a code by Harry while he was on his death bed.  A code only she knew and kept from the public for many years after his death.  It was a code that would show Bess he was trying to communicate to her from the other side, keeping his promise from the night they met that not even death could keep him away.  Bess spends many years trying to find this code, only to discover there was a more urgent message he was trying to send her and it wasn't only the fact that he was never going to leave her side.  Along the way of her search, Bess is led to a young man who is a photographer and she knows that he is part of the message Harry is trying to send to her, but in the end, was it worth it to find out a secret Harry kept hidden throughout their entire marriage?

As someone who is training to do magic and has been since I was a little girl, I was excited to finally read this book.  After all, Harry Houdini is one of my magician role models and I thought it would be interesting to see a different take on a novel about him and his wife.  Unfortunately, I was left disappointed with this book.

Kelly made Bess a hard character to really understand.  My interest was loss so many times watching as she followed Houdini around while on tour with their magic act.  At time, it felt that were too much added to the story that you were lost in what was going on.  When I read the summary, I was expecting to go on an adventure, instead I was left reading a book that seemed more of Bess reminiscing on her life with Harry than her trying to find the hidden secret he was trying to tell her from beyond the grave.

There were too many flashbacks in this book and it took away from the original idea of the story.  Kelly should've stuck with one era of the Houdini's life, either after his death or their marriage.  It was alright in the beginning when she began with Bess meeting him.  But the whole book constantly went back and forth, and at time a flashback was put into the present day, making it a confusing read at times.

Harry Houdini's part was well written and you can see that Kelly really went into research to use as a basis to write his character.  Most of the stuff I did know as I've studied him many times before, but it was refreshing to see it written in a novel.

I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars.  The topic was interesting, I just wished the story followed along the summary.  What I got when I read this book was nothing I expected.  There wasn't as much action as I was hoping for.  

I would recommend this book if you're a fan of magic, especially Houdini.  It is nice to see a different side to his life and read of some of his tricks that he performed.