The Magnificent Gallery

by Thomas F. Monteleone

Brampton, Iowa. A quiet, peaceful, sunlit place, where children play happily in the streets and shopkeepers know all their customers by name. Brampton's secrets are well hidden.


The dark man is coming …


Mister Magister. Clad all in black, proprietor of a shooting gallery unlike any Brampton has ever seen. Cut out of darkness, filled with universal night, Mister Magister comes to Brampton on a golden autumn day.


To test its soul. And find it wanting.


The dark time is coming …

Genres: Horror

246 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mysterious shooting gallery comes into town. It's a single wagon unlike regular carnival. What's so special about the gallery and its owner? The man is very slender, dressed all in black with a hat you can't see his eyes under. He calls himself Mr Magister. Why are all the inhabitants drawn like moths to a flame to this carnival attraction? Stella and Jamie two teenager who slowly fall in love with each other try to find out. Besides every day some outsider of the town is dying. Is there a connection to the shooting gallery? What do the targets look like and why seems the decoration to be a black abyss? I really like this unspectacular fine novel on growing up and on the rifts within a community. The underlying hate against people who think different and come from somewhere else is clearly described within a captivating story. Besides it's a good to read book with many eerie passages that manages to tell its tale without too much gore, sex and violence. I can only recommend this classic Monteleone story.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very atmospheric and moody novel of dark fantasy that's an homage to Ray Bradbury and Finney's Dr. Lao and Serling's Twilight Zone. Brampton, Iowa, is a small middle-America town where The Magnificent Gallery of Mister Magister appears one fine fall afternoon. It's a mysterious and magical shooting gallery that quickly captivates the residents of the town, forcing the townspeople to face hard truths about themselves and questions about one another. The main character is a young teenager named Stella, who's trying to come to terms with the many changes in her life and figure out who she is, even as she tries to solve the mystery of the gallery and finally faces Mr. Magister himself. The ending is rather abrupt and not completely satisfying, but it's a good coming-of-age study and a small town satire. Pour yourself a glass of dandelion wine before beginning.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man (or is he) arrives on the edges of an american town to test the very soul of its inhabitants via a "Shooting Gallery" attached to a horse drawn carriage...
Who will survive? any will anybody beable to discover the motives of this villager and save the towns people?