Review of ‘Wrong Magic’

Posted on April 13, 2015 Updated on April 10, 2015

Alex Petroya is a man going through life just making the motions. He cares for little beyond repairing bikes—and, is content with what he calls life. Until, one day, he comes home from a ride and finds his wife, Stephanie in the arms of Martin, her boss, announcing that she’s leaving him.

Totally flummoxed, Alex returns to his late parents’ home, a place he’d always hated because it seemed to suck the life out of life. In the process of finding himself, he encounters a bunch of Stephanie’s unfinished stories, and for reasons he doesn’t understand, decides that he must finish them. That’s when the magic begins.

Wrong Magic by Ken LaSalle follows Alex and Stephanie as they endure the sometimes painful process of finding themselves. But, first they must find and understand the magic – the right magic.

LaSalle’s handling of this hard-to-classify story is masterful. He takes us from Alex’s sometimes fumbling attempts to develop something akin to human emotions to Stephanie’s efforts to decide with whom she wants to spend her life. At times achingly funny, and at times depressing beyond words, this is the kind of story you read when it’s chilly outside and the wind’s rattling the window panes. A story of magic—the kind you find in fantasy stories and the kind you find inside the human heart—it’ll keep you turning pages and chuckling. A delightful read that i give five stars to!