The Prestige

Written by Christopher Priest, this is the novel that the movie 'The Prestige' was based on, although I found the bookish version much more logical and interesting.
The book starts with the introduction of an adopted boy, who can be traced back to have the last name of Borden. He works as a reporter and loves his foster parents. However a strange diary (presumably of one of his relatives) and a weird news interview appointment leads him to meet a lady, who seems to be knowing much more about him than himself. She had the last name of Angier.
Here begins the diary entries of Alfred Borden - the son of a carpenter, who had so much interest in magic that he ends up being one of the best, just by self practice and interest. Often in the diary he is questioning himself and answering himself - a strange way of writing a diary. He begins his rivalry with Angier by spoiling one of his illusions. And there begins their bloodthirsty war. Eventually, he regrets his doing, but he feels angry when Angier strikes back and he repeats the favour and so on. He becomes very famous with his illusion of the Transported Man, where he leaves the stage in one cabinet and reappears from another, without any time elapse. Eventually he marries and then he even gets a mistress. With the mistress, he misleads Angier. He hears that Angier has come up with his version of the Transported Man - In a Flash. Knowing his own secret, Borden is determined to find Angier's truth - which he doesn't find out but unwittingly spoils Angier's trick and he is haunted for the rest of his life, until he dies.
Then begins the diary entries of Robert Angier - also a fanatic of magic but came from a rich background. He starts living in the city by himself and meets an actress who was to be his only love and wife for a long time. They begin with stage shows and then for financial reasons move onto to speaking with the dead. Here is where Borden makes his first strike against Angier. Remembering to avenge the happening, Angier never forgives Borden. Eventually he is puzzled by Borden's version of the transported man. Here is when he falls to the fancies of his assistant, Olivia Svenson. He leaves his wife and now his need for secret becomes an obsession and Olivia volunteers to find it for him. But over this game, he loses her to Borden. He is enraged, but he uses the clue that Olivia left to meet a scientist in the U.S. Amazingly enough, science helps him with what he needed. He manages to return home, get his family back and do successful performances. He always hints at having done something very bad at the end of every performance. However on one such performance, Borden interrupts his performance and things go bad - there are almost 2 of him, but there is only one of him.
With the current situation, Angier's descendant recollects her version of the story and her obsession to find the truth. Apparently, Borden's son (with the small boy, who is now adopted) visited her home (when she was young). After some serious arguments, her father takes the guests to see the apparatus that Angier had used for his stage show, In a Flash. Somehow, nothing happens to Borden's son, but in an accident, he leaves the small boy behind and at the end, the boy is killed. The young girl is shocked, but she is just as shocked to find him alive today. They, then leave for the Angier family vault where all the bodies were stored after they were dead. And there, they find something they almost expected.
The book was definitely a much better read than the movie, although I have to say that since I had watched the movie, it made understanding the book a little easier. There were some parts, that could have been better explained in the book and also, I kept imagining Hugh Jackman as Angier and Christian Bale as Borden - which is the drawback of watching a movie before reading the book.