This book is entertaining, at times awe-inspiring, and is a fascinating glimpse at a little-known aspect of WWII. I take issue with the reviewers who dismiss the entire book as fantasy. You see I actually looked at Mr. Stokes' (a negative reviewer) "debunking" website which he links to in his review. I admit Mr. Stokes does successfully call into question aspects of the real Mr. Maskelyne's character and the dubious provenance of the accounts of interpersonal relationships in _The War Magician_. However, when I eagerly clicked to the part of the website which promised to disprove Maskelyne's actual feats -- moving Alexandria harbor, hiding the Suez Canal, his role in preparing for the Battle of Alamein -- all I found was a rambling essay on WWII strategic deception which had nothing to do with the promised topic. In the absence of specific, skeptical accounts of the actual wartime accomplishments -- rather than character aspersions -- from a website which obviously wishes to take Maskelyne down a peg a or two, I can only conclude that the absence exists because it is impossible to attack the feats. I am much more inclined to believe the reviewer who went to London and researched Maskelyne's official wartime record.
Now, regarding the writing of the book, it is definitely corny at times with the ridiculous dialogue and the pat characterizations of the misfit members of Maskelyne's "Magic Gang." An author's preface would have done much to explain how "David Fisher" (obvious pen name?) put together this account -- however, perhaps there is no preface because David Fisher was interested only in telling a good yarn and his methods would not stand up to scholarly scrutiny.

There is a lot of discussion on whether or not this book is fact or fiction. I picked it up to read because it was a work of "Non-Fiction". But after reading it I am not sure. The book does have verifiable historical detail. But it is filled with complete conversations of the characters/subjects. It seemed to me to be more of a historical novel. Though I do not think everything in the book is accurate, Most of what he is attributed to have done is plausible.

The War Magician written by David Fisher claims to be a true account of the exploits of the illusionist Jasper Maskelyne during the Second World War. Mr. Maskelyne comes from a long line of magicians. And like his ancestor who used his magic knowledge to help T.E. Lawrence in Arabia in WW I, he wanted to do his part in WW II. And so he does. His skills are used to help the British forces in developing new and creative weapons of illusion. Like making the armies look larger then they actually were. To innovations in camouflage, which are very interesting. And these camouflage techniques would take a mind such as Maskelyne had to conceive and execute.

The book makes for very interested reading. And just goes to remind us, that with enough ingenuity and hard work, anything can be accomplished. Regardless if the book is all factual, or if there is some embellishment, it is worth the read.

Jasper Maskelyne, a famous stage magician enters the British Army during WWII and is able to accomplish things that lifetime military men could not. He forms a specialized unit dubbed "The Magic Gang" that operates almost entirely in secret. They hide the Suez Canal, they make Alexandria Harbor disappear and in an operation that changes the course of the war, they trick Rommel, the legendary `Desert Fox' with a phantom army that didn't really exist. Seems Maskelyne was the original "outside the box" thinker, something the very proper and highly regimented Royal Army was not accustomed to or happy about for that matter. So much so that after the war, the military brass were successful at getting a good portion of his record sealed as top secret until the year 2046. This is such an amazing story I can see why they want to make it into a movie.

Now some say it's all true, some say it's all false, and some say, like magic itself reality could lie somewhere in between. But if I had to choose who to believe, I'd pick David Fisher, an established author with over twenty published books to his credit, over previous reviewers on this site Stokes and Latimer, who apparently still can't get published without paying for it. They remind me of those revisionists that say the Holocaust never happened.

The War Magician by David Fisher claims to be a true account of the exploits of the illusionist Jasper Maskelyne during the Second World War. In fact the book is an invention, not remotely based on fact, and instead is an attempt to gull the credulous and make money in the process without the slightest concern for the truth of history. I have examined the records at the National Archives at Kew in London, where nothing supports Fisher's story; nor do the records at the Imperial War Museum. For that matter, the word in magic circles here in Britain is that David Fisher's book is so bad, his film treatment so feeble, that Peter Weir, who was asked to direct the film of the book for Paramount, has refused to do so, and the project has been dropped. That is how bad David Fisher's The War Magician is. It is junk for the gullible and feeble minded; it is a travesty of history. It is a lie.

Jasper Maskelyne's war records have already been released!
His son, Alistair, has a copy. They contain no earth shattering revelations, apart from transfer dates.
I've looked at them.
By the way, I contacted the Imperial War Museum (London) who said that there was no exhibition on Maskelyne in 2003 or at the other IWM sites. So can the previous reviewer clarify this?
My alternative research on Jasper Maskelyne has been highly praised by key magic historians , but viewers can make their own mind up by checking out the website at:
www.maskelynemagic.com
David Fisher and Paramount Studios have sold us a dummy.
Richard Stokes