Abra-Cadaver

by Matt Drabble

Tommy, Dixon, McEwen, PJ, and Alison were always a close knit group until Tommy's 12th birthday party. Tragedy strikes when a magic trick goes horribly wrong and a woman lies dead.

A local magician Albert Trotter is railroaded during a rigged trial and locked away. Forever protesting his innocence and after a vicious assault in prison, he is eventually sent to a mental institution in a catatonic state.

Now Tommy is 36 and heading home for the first time in over two decades, but he's not alone. Someone is slaughtering the residents of Denver Mills with magic-trick-themed murders and holding those involved with the Trotter trial in a steely grip of fear.

Tommy will have to find the strength to bring his old friends together as secrets and lies are exposed throughout the small town of Denver Mills.

Something evil is coming home, and they're bringing a whole new bag of tricks.

Genres: Horror, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Ebooks

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2013

About the author

Born in Bath, England in 1974, a self-professed "funny onion", equal parts sport loving jock and comic book geek.

Awards & Achievements:

"ABRA-CADAVER" is the 2017 Readers Favorite Silver Medal Winner for Horror Fiction. It is also a 2015 Kindle Book Review Finalist, an Indie Book of the Day winner and the 2016 Book Excellence Award Winner for Horror Fiction.

"GATED" is the 2015 Readers Favorite Gold Medal Winner. It is also a UK & US Horror Chart Top Ten Best Seller & winner of the Full Moon Awards 2014 Horror Book of the Year.

"ASYLUM - 13 TALES OF TERROR" was a US Horror Chart #5. It was also voted #5 on The Horror Novel Review's Top 10 Books of 2013 & was the Readers Favorite 2014 Gold Medal Winner for Anthology Fiction.

"THE LAST RESORT" is the 2019 Readers Favorite Silver Medal Winner for Horror Fiction & The 2019 Kindle Book Review's Winner for Horror/Suspense

Visit me at www.mattdrabble.co.uk to download free short stories.

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Reviews

[RedemptionDenied · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kindle edition is gratis, and for a freebie - it's pretty good.

A magician, Arnold Trotter (aka - the Great Cosmos X) is hired to attend the birthday party of twelve year old, Tommy Marsh. Whilst the adults are inside the property discussing business, Tommy and his buddies: Dixon, PJ, Alison and McEwen - can't resist nosing around the magician's van - and messing around with the equipment inside; especially the guillotine.

When the Great Cosmos X performs his first trick; his assistant, who is also his wife - loses her head, literally. Trotter' seems to be as shocked as everyone else - though he's subsequently arrested and charged with the murder of his wife (ex-wife). The case goes to court and he's found guilty - which he believes to be flimsy evidence at best. As he's led out of the courtroom, he promises to take revenge on those who convicted him. Tommy and his friends get a guilt complex, as they believe they may have been responsible for the death of Arnold Trotter's wife.

At some juncture, the Great Cosmos X is sent to a mental institution - after he's brutally assaulted in prison, and nearly dies. He eventually, escapes incarceration - and not long after, a series of bizarre and gory murders take place in Denver Mills - around the same time, Tommy Marsh, who is now 36, returns home for the first time - after being away for over two decades. Coincidence?

I really enjoyed the book. It was filled with twists, turns, more twists and an ending that I didn't see coming. There were a few typos here and there, but nothing I couldn't get past. I'll have to check out the authors other novels, sometime.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twists and Turns!

Backstory:

Location: Denver Mills

Past:

It was supposed to be a fun filled time birthday party for "Tommy" who was turning 12. The party included not only cake, ice cream, and presents, but also a renowned magician - the Great Cosmos X a/k/a Arnold Trotter.

Tommy and his best friends Dixon, McEwen, PJ, and Ally became curious about what kind of fun stuff was inside the van that belonged to the Great Cosmos X so they go check it out. They fiddled around with one of the props which made it not work properly causing something horrific to happen to the assistant of the Great Cosmos X landing him in a murder trial and being sentenced to prison - though no knew that the kids were even involved in the prop mishap.

Present:

Now the kids are all grown up and Tommy is coming back home to take care of his fathers estate. Upon his arrival, murders start happening in the small town of Denver Mills, which no one knows who it could possibly be until they find out that Arnold Trotter who was the Great Cosmos X has escaped the mental institution where he was staying.

A ticked off magician is on his way back home to Denver Mills and he has all kinds of tricks up his sleeves! Bodies are piling up and no one knows when it is going to end!

Thoughts:

This book captured me from the first chapter and took me on a thrill ride all the way to the end. Lots of twists and turns with fast pacing from the beginning of the book to the end!

This book reminded me of the 80's horror slasher films and it definitely captures everything from that memory trip into time. The author throws in a big twisted surprise thrown near the end of the book which was unexpected and pulled the rug out from under me! Giving this book four "Maniac Magician" stars.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

No fury like a magician scorned. I do still read horror now and again and this one had me at magic. And the title and the cover were quite enticing too actually. The story itself was ok, pretty good, not great. The effort was definitely there. The author chose the old staple plot structure of young kids witnessing something horrible (a gruesome murder in this case) and fast forward 24 years later they are reunited to face the equally gruesome consequences. So it isn't particularly original and no wheel was reinvented, but the wheel of decent quality was produced all the same. Despite featuring a magician as a antagonist, there is quite disappointingly no magic to find here, nothing supernatural, just the tricks and these tricks are definitively not for kids. One of the tricks is a trick ending, a twist that was certainly welcome on the otherwise much too straightforward of a plot. The writing was competent, albeit entirely too British was a decisively all American story. That and some not existent commas should have been edited for, it can be fairly distracting for a small town USA to feature car parks for cars using petrol and so on. The story had a lot of potential as horror, but went with a murder mystery style instead. Perfectly decent, if unexceptional, fairly entertaining book.

[chucklesthescot · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

A local magician does a trick at a kid's birthday party which kills his wife, and a fixed trial and the silence of the kids who were messing around with the guillotine condemn him to prison. Now the children have grown up and the town is going to get a very unwelcome visitor seeking revenge.

It might be nice if Goodreads and Amazon change their blurb to reflect that the magician is called ARNOLD, not Albert. But I digress.

This was an excellent horror read with all the things that I love about the genre. First there was the horrors of the birthday party. I hate kids so a nice bloody party was the perfect start for me to get into the book along with the dry humour of the author as he told us how excited and nervous the kids were getting.

"It was a potent combination and several parents feared for not having brought changes of underwear."

Loved that! There were scenes of inventive and amusing murders of people who deserve what they got, all with a magical twist. The magician was funny and dramatic as he killed people, giving him a twisted kind of charisma.

"The shadow stepped back from the sodden mess and surveyed the work. "Ta-dah" it whispered softly."

There was the tension of knowing that the boogeyman was out in the shadows waiting to pounce. You knew who some of the victims were to be but not how they would die or in which order. As people go to investigate noises in the dark(silly!) or wander off on their own(dumb!) you were just waiting on Arnold to jump out with his silky cloak on. The mixture of tension and bloody death were perfectly combined in a story that moved along smoothly. I enjoyed the way the author put the story together.

The characters were developed well within the story and I disliked Dixon from the start, as the author intended I believe! Out of the five I liked McEwan the best and he seemed to be the one who suffered the most from the events at the party. Even the bad characters were a perfect fit and you looked forward to them getting what they deserved. The grand finale was very good and I was left satisfied by the way everything worked out.

There were good plot twists as well. I did suspect a few of them but the final big reveal I only guessed right at the very last second which shows that the author does an equally good job of hinting and concealing. I'd love to talk more about these twists but of course that would mean huge spoilers and I won't do that. But I can tell you that the twists are great and fit perfectly into the story.

If you love horror and scary thrillers then you should enjoy this book. I will be looking at other work by the author and if this comes out in paperback, I will definitely add it to my collection. Brilliant book!

[Ted Tayler · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Great title, but that was it"

If you are into the horror genre you'll no doubt find this a cheap thrill. I'm not, but I'll try anything once. I found this a tad contrived, and the typos irked me after a while. No more horror for me. It doesn't appeal.

[Alan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book because I had read a couple of other books by Matt Drabble and liked them, and because this one was about a magician wronged many years ago who comes back for "justice." What's not to like? But as it turned out, this wasn't one of Drabble's better books. Though it was just over 300 pages long, it often felt like it was a good 50-100 pages too long. And story elements got too over-the-top. It was pretty much a slasher as the magician took out those he felt wronged him one-by-one, which wasn't terrible, except it made no sense just how easily the magician, who had escaped from a secure hospital, acquired all the things he needed to take elaborate revenge. While Drabble tried to pull a trick of his own with two surprise twists toward the end, I totally saw both of them coming. The story was fairly formulaic and predictable that way. And my biggest issue was that I wasn't sure if the the story took place in the US or the UK. It seemed like the descriptions of places and such matched the US, but the characters frequently used British colloquialisms. Authors, do your research and keep things consistent. It wasn't a bad book, and was more entertaining in the first half before it felt like it was dragging, but it wasn't a spectacular book. 2.5/5*

[David Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this.

A group of friends get together for a 12 year olds birthday party. During the pre performance by the magician they decide to go snooping around. What happens after that sets off a chain of events that will cause a lot of pain and bloodshed many years later.

This book would make a great film. All of the established ideas are there - small town, bored kids wanting to get out, a tragedy and repercussions that follow. I can't help but draw a comparison to Stephen King with this story. The whole feel is exactly like one of his novels, which shows how well the author has written this book. The pace and tension are set just right. The violence isn't gratuitous or over the top, and everybody has a back story that sets the tone perfectly for the events as they unfold. All it took was one bad idea to set in motion a chain of events to trigger a wave of murder and corruption.

Don't mess with a magic trick, or you might just pay for the consequences!

My favourite book by this author so far. If you haven't read Matt Drabble, start here.

[Horror_Reader1973 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Matt Drabble's style of writing, it flows beautifully and is so easy to read.

Abra-Cadaver was easy to engage with, immediately holding my interest. The characters were a great mixed bunch, I liked them and the plot is mysterious.

The reason it's a four stars instead of five is because it really is too long. Its very wordy and repetitive in some places. There's a little too much unnecessary information at times which I got frustrated with and skimmed.

However, I really enjoyed it, its a page-turner and a fun read. Highly recommended.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the Magician form of Freddiew Krueger

Traumatized 12 year olds hide a secret as a town railroads a citizen to jail. It's now over twenty years later, and the kids are closer to forty than thirty, and all together again when Cosmo-X the Magician maniac decides to take on the town for a bit of revenge. Boy, do the bodies stack up in creative ways. I enjoyed guessing what new trick was coming next.

This story has great characters, good pacing, and an interesting premise. I enjoyed reading this book. These characters all have issues left over from the preteen trauma, and others in the town were changed by it in different ways, even the police chief, who was a detective at that time, and believed Cosmo-X to be innocent.

Like Stephen King's. IT, the traumatized kids, now adults must help try and save the town and themselves, unlike IT, their monster is completely human just basically insane after hellish treatment in prison and bent on payback like Freddie for all those people who caused bad things to happen to him. And so the fun begins...

The downside was that the killer was almost superhuman - nobody could really stop him, find him or apprehend him. He seems to be very strong physically for someone locked in a metal ward. There were also few too many coincidences in the story to be credible. Can't go into details because they are all spoilers.

In the whole scheme of things, these are minor complaints, and cost a star. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good story. The ending had to be what it was. You will see what I mean when you read it. No cliffhanger, so thank you for that.

If you are looking for a dyed in the wool slasher type horror story with panache, then this is your book. Think of Freddie without the burns in magicians tuxedos cape doing illusions like sawing a lady in half. Did he just do that for real? Is that blood? Read the book and find out.

[Sage Adderley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abra-Cadaver is the third book by Matt Drabble that I have read. While I thoroughly enjoyed Gated and Asylum-13 Tales of Terror, I have to say, he really knocked my socks off with this book. Abra-Cadaver is about a group of 12-year-old friends celebrating their friend Tommy’s birthday and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the party’s entertainment – a magician! The curious kids find themselves snooping around the magician’s van and messing with his equipment. What unravels is a magic trick gone wrong and a dead magician’s assistant. The kids are emotionally scarred by the incident and go their separate ways. The magician is sent off to prison and then to a psychiatric facility.

Matt Drabble has written a brilliant tale of greed, horror, and revenge. He catapults readers into the thrilling story with the magician’s escape from the mental ward and deadly journey to seek revenge on the town that sabotaged his trial and threw him to the wolves. As the dead bodies pile up, the group of friends are battling to stay alive.

I was impressed with the thick plot and never-ending action. Just when you think you have an idea of “what, who, and why,” Drabble drops another surprise in your lap. I couldn’t put the book down until the very last page. Abra-Cadaver is well written, nail-biting, funny, and will not disappoint fans of the horror and thriller genre. I give this 5 stars all day long!

[United Indie Book Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Twelve year old Tommy is excited to have a magician coming to perform at his birthday party. After Tommy and his friends tamper with a prop, the unthinkable happens. A woman loses her life. An innocent man is found guilty. Filled with guilt, Tommy and his friends grow apart, and Tommy eventually moves away with his mother. Fast forward 20 years, Tommy is back in town to settle his father’s estate. He’s reconnecting with his childhood friends and realizing how much that fateful day affected them. Unfortunately for Tommy, someone else is back in town and looking for revenge.

I loved this book. It isn’t my normal genre, so I was somewhat surprised to find myself sucked into the story. After I started reading, I didn’t want to put my Kindle down. I enjoyed reading about how the fateful day affected the whole town in one way or another. It was interesting to learn how each of Tommy’s friends coped with the tragedy and how Tommy himself coped. This book kept me on my toes and guessing until the very end. Just when you thought you knew who the “bad guy” was, suspicion was cast on someone else. I also loved that there was a little romance thrown in. Overall, this book had it all, suspense, horror, mystery, and as I said above a little romance. Beware if you’re squeamish, this book does contain gore.

5 Stars
Reviewed by Tracy

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abra-Cadaver is a good book that keeps your interest throughout. Once I started reading it, I had trouble putting it down. The characters were described well and the way that each one turned out was understandable. Matt Drabble gave a good explanation of how one event can affect each individual differently. He’s good at describing the thought process of each person.

Abra-Cadaver has a good plot even though it’s pretty gruesome. The ending had a good twist but I had it figured out because so many people had died. There really wasn’t any other good way for the book to end.

The typos and grammatical errors were a little distracting but I could get past those. The one thing that did bother me is that according to my calculations, Tommy’s birthday party was 24 years ago but several times the characters said that it had been almost 20 years.

It’s been a long time since I read a horror story that made me jittery. A couple times I had the feeling that I was being watched which I find is an indication of a good horror story.

If you don’t mind gore and violence, I recommend Abra-Cadaver.

This review is also posted on my blog www.bound4escape.com.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story begins with a young boy and his friends witnessing a tragic accident - or so it seems. There is a very high chance that this boy and his friends may have caused it by a childish mistake. A magician is wrongfully imprisoned for the death of his partner and vows to take revenge on the children who were truly to blame.

Fast forward to the present time. The children have grown and gone on with their lives. The story that unfolds seeks to shed light on what truly happened as well as what happens when the magician begins to hunt them down.

I struggled to finish the story. It was not that the story wasn't well written, but I found myself not caring so much what happened. The characters were somewhat stereotypes and I did not find myself attached to any of them. I feel it may be a matter of personal resonance; for some, this may not matter. I found it a little hard to follow at times and to remember who was who. In my opinion, this could have been resolved by a better relationship with the characters.

[Michael Brookes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun horror story, although I enjoyed the concept a bit more than the execution. The story begins with a children's birthday party and a magic trick that goes horrifically wrong. This opening sequence is very well done and starts the momentum rolling. The pace maintains nicely through the first two-thirds of the book with a succession of murders, friends getting reacquainted and the investigation into the killings.

Unfortunately it loses steam as it approaches the conclusion, this is partly due to the story retreading old ground but also because of the constant shifting in perspectives. You just get comfortable with one character and its about to reach something interesting and it shifts. Now this is a useful device for building tension and pace, but it backfires a bit here as its constant.

The other big issue is the end, it's quite predictable and very familiar if you're a fan of slasher movies. There's also a few errors in the text. It's not a bad story by any means, I enjoyed reading it, but the issues did hold it back from being a great read.

[Lisa Arrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if it was the story, the insomnia or the fact that I finished on Halloween night, but this one gave me nightmares!

When 12yo Tommy invited his friends over for his birthday party, with a magician for entertainment, what could possibly go wrong? How about a good dose of childhood curiosity, traumatized adults and a beheading...not necessarily in that order.

Matt takes the reader down the road of the macabre and strange with this scary tale of redemption and revenge. Will keep the reader on their toes with what will happen next. The only part of the book I didn't care for was the Epilogue, but didn't dislike it enough to not give this work a five star rating.

[Paul Penney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is atrocious! It boggles my mind how a book gets to publication with so many errors in it. It makes me wonder if the author dropped out of school after failing grade 5 English, or perhaps English is not his first language? I counted 2 spelling errors, a questionable wording, one use of a semi-colon instead of a comma, and at least 15 missing commas, and that was just chapter one! If you are a teacher, this book will not only make you feel like you are at work correcting papers, but it will make you feel hopeless as an educator. If I hadn't downloaded this book for free, I would have been angrily screaming for my money back after chapter one. If only I could give it zero stars...

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Very good premise and a nice little twist at the end.
If you like your tales gory, this is j must read.
Beware, however, the kindle edition. Mine has numerous typos which made reading difficult at times.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much. Fantastic story about vengeful murders occurring in a small town 24 years later after the 1st one at Tommy' s 12th birthday party. Highly recommend read!!

[Destiny Causby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little over the top in places but overall a good book.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[whatemsreadingx · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOOOOOW, this book was a wild ride that I absolutely loved! Straight away I was hooked into this book, and I could not put it down.

Everything about this book from the premise, to the characters, to the writing, to the actual plot itself and the chapters I thoroughly enjoyed, although there were a couple of little niggles, hence my 4 star rating.

When you first start reading we are introduced to our characters 24 years ago, which is great as we got to see the full background of the story through their own eyes. These first few pages absolutely packed a punch and set up for what would become a truly brilliant and clever book.

Character wise, we stick with the same handful throughout the whole story, and while they weren't the most inventive characters and they retained a lot of their childhood traits they were certainly likable enough.

One thing I did enjoy is how they all seemed to slip back into those childhood roles once they got back together, it cleverly set up for a lot of the later story.

The book itself was written in 3rd person, which I enjoyed as it meant we got a chance to see Great Cosmos X from various points of view, and how he was perceived by each character.

While at points it was a predictable and slightly sloppy story, the introduction of the "magic tricks" used by Great Cosmos X within his wicked games were an original and clever twist on the story.

It did get better though and from about 77% through I literally could not stop reading, it took a complete twist that I wasn't expecting and completely turned the book on it's head - I could not put the book down, I needed to know what was going on!

On the whole, Abra-Cadaver was a really good book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and while some aspects were predictable or sloppy, others were completely original and brought something new to the story.

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slasher film in book form

It really was not a bad book, and I am sure many people will like this. But I really did not care for it. It was an interesting story, with many predictable twists and turns. But I thought there were more murders than needed. Also, when there is a number of murders in a small town being attributed to one person, Federal authorities will be brought in, but not in this town until after the killer was killed. I also did not feel any suspense that could have turned this into a real page turner and nightmare maker. And the characters all seemed like just fictional characters as opposed to real people that you could identify with. I also feel that there were many careless errors that should have been cleaned up in editing, although this seems to be a problem with most ebooks. I hate giving a bad review, but this is my opinion, and as I said, I am sure many will like this, as the villain is really a creepy person.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

(Yet another review I’m doing much later)

Not a fan of the ending. A LOT of grammatical issues
Oh yeah

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,’’’”” here, I think you dropped these

I know it’s not supposed to be a completely believable story, but come on. And SOO many “well in the REAL world x doesn’t happen,” the NLOG of books. Despite that, there were moments where I found it difficult to put the book down. Unfortunately it wasn’t most of the book. Actually around 30-36% I thought kindle super messed up my page count bc it seemed like everything was about to wrap up, and then got dull for a while, and eventually picked up again towards the end (with another dull and exciting and then eye rolling)

[Jack R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thriller

Really enjoyed the story, notwithstanding quite a few inconsistencies, such as the frequent use of the archaic- sounding (to the American eat) "whilst". I found myself stumbling over such slang, and that made the read a little less enjoyable. Other inconsistencies include a one story house that in the next sentence has an upstairs, and a young protagonist who in one sentence talks of almost never hearing his parents argue, then in the next talking about the terrible screaming bouts. But even with these issues, I still enjoyed the book with excellent plotting and delicious twists and turns.

[Becky Strait · Rating 5 out of 5]

A True Nail Biter!!

I enjoyed the hell out of this book. So much so, that I already have 2 more Matt Drabble books waiting in the wings. The characters are so well defined. Some lovable, some sad, and to my delight, some demented and evil. I just couldn't put it down. And I read this in almost one sitting. You'll love it. Join me in a new writer that is amazing. Remember this name. Matt Drabble.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I was interested early on. This was a fast paced page turner for me. I really had a hard time putting it down once I started. Complete with a twist at the end. I would have given this book 5 stars, but it needed to have been proof read a lot better than it was. Great thriller though and I will look for other books by this author.

[philippa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good as ever

I really enjoyed this book, it had about the right amount of gore in it without being over the top . The story itself about a magician that's incarcerated for a crime he didn't do is very original and I recommend anyone who likes horror to read it . Well done Matt Drabble another good book , but your books usually are .

[sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abra cadaver the magician is railroaded for murder

Tommy likes magic, so his parents get a magician for his 12th birthday... Tommy and his friends discover a dangerous machine in the magician's van ... They are fascinated with the mechanics . later a death happens that they may be partially responsible for.. the magician is arrested ... but is he really to blame. ..?

[James McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abra-What

Excellent read! This one is full of twists and turns. From childhood denied to childhood reclaimed somewhat. Plenty of things going on to keep one just off the trail and questioning everyone's intent. Very dark and most certainly twisted. Found myself not wanting to put this one down but even the wicked must sleep.😁

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huge body count

A cracking tale of revenge (by a magician). Some good characters and interesting story with some twists here and there. A bit far-fetched at times but then again it is about a psychotic magic guy. I got half way through and thought everything had happened and wondered what would happen next - then I had another 50% of action. Enjoyable read.