Paperback, 384 pages
English language
Published July 10, 2007 by Canongate U.S..
When down-at-heel Glasgow conjurer William Wilson gets booked for a string of cabaret gigs in Berlin, he's hoping his luck's on the turn. There were certain spectators from his last show who he'd rather forget. Like the one who's now a corpse. Amongst the showgirls and tricksters of Berlin's scandalous underground Wilson can abandon his heart, his head and, more importantly, his past. But secrets have a habit of catching up with him and, as he gets sucked into certain lucrative after-hours work, the line between what's an act and what's real starts to blur.
A down-at-heels conjurer gets a gig in a seedy Berlin club and takes on an intriguing American woman as his assistant. The story switches back and forth between Berlin and a later time period in Glasgow, where the conjurer is even more down-at-heels. Wonderful writing expended on a plot that doesn't deserve it.
