Carter Beats the Devil

Rating:
Summary: Mostly wonderful, but a bit plodding
Review: I can see why this is compared to Kavalier and Clay: this novel has the same rich period detail, the same loving attention to character, and the same exploration of a strange world--in this case, the life and times of a magician. I can't complain about the writing, which is well crafted, nor the characters, but I did feel that the middle of the book sagged a bit, leaving me feeling a bit listless as I turned the pages, struggling through a long subplot about which I really didn't care much. If you enjoy fine literature, this will not disappoint, and I am certain this will be one of those books that is read by many for years to come. If you need a light book for an airplane, something with a fast moving plot, this one isn't going to do it for you.

Rating:
Summary: Entertainment on a grand scale
Review: Glen David Gold does not possess the literary word craftsmanship of magic realists like Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Mark Helprin, but he is not writing magic realism, he writes of real magic. Carter Beats The Devil is a book constructed like the massive complicated stage illusions that it features, the audience sees, or thinks they see, one thing, when quite another is taking place. The plot is tortuous, but not convoluted, intricate, but not esoteric, and ultimately the magician pulls back the curtain to reveal the secret of the greatest trick of all, amazingly without destroying the wonder of magic itself, which is the desire to be fooled. Gold writes with nice detail, believable emotion, and with something not found a lot in novels, true joy. This is a novel of many faces, a mirrored room that distorts the shapes of those who look in, but at the end one is greeted with the revelation that it has been a spectacular ride, and of course there is a finale worthy of a grand stage show. Carter Beats the Devil doesn't not knock you down with amazing sentences, it is a book that moves quickly and lets the plot carry the reader. Gold's skill lies in staying out of the reader's way, he is an unobtrusive storyteller with genius construction talents. Very few novels tell such a satisfyingly elaborate tale with the seams sewn up as tightly as Carter Beats the Devil. It is a show worthy of Carter the Great.

Rating:
Summary: A fun and great novel!
Review: "Carter Beats the Devil" is based on the real Charles Carter, a real magician during magic's heyday in the early 20th century. The book begins with Carter performing one of his popular show for a packed house including President Warren Harding. Carter invites the President up on stage to help in his act, moments later the President disappears. Secret Service Agents wait nervously for the President to re-appear, which he does, but late that night the President mysteriously dies and Carter the Great becomes suspect.

This book (though it incorporates real people and actual historical even) is not a biography. I don't even think it could be called historical fiction. It's a clever twist on historical fiction where the author ties several important historical events (Harding's death, the invention of TV, and Houdini) to Carter and his magic act. Even Charles Carter is adapted to meet the author's vision.

The book also explores Carters past (or at least the author's interpretation of Carter's past). We first see when Carter becomes interested in illusion. We're with him when he takes up magic and joins a vaudeville troop. We encounter his nemesis, a hack magician consumed by jealously over Carter. When the book catches up with Carter during the Harding investigation, we're taken for another ride as he tries to outwit the Secret Service. In the end Carter is hiding something, but it is a trick that he can never reveal.

"Carter Beats the Devil" is a fun and joyous ride that combines, history, melodrama, and pulp fiction into a book that celebrates the joys of stage magic and a time when even the simplest of things today was the stuff of magic yesterday.


Rating:
Summary: Staggeringly good.
Review: I read tonnes of books, all pretty high up on the literary scale, all fiction. Of the hundreds of books I've read in my life, this is perhaps the best, or a close second. Read this book now!

Rating:
Summary: Conclusion A Fun Read!! Feels Like the Old Pulps.
Review: Remember those old movie serials? Well imagine if you could have been there first hand for all the stuff that went on behind the scenes and between chapters and you have the feel of this book.

Charles Carter famous stage magician in a time when live entertainment still held sway over us. Maverick, tragic figure, romantic, traitor to the nation? Does not even begin to cover it all.

If you are looking for a simple story don't come here for it is rich with side characters and their stories and a decent attempt to make you feel like you were back in the turn of the century America.

I could see this as a movie in my head.

A very enjoyable read and I say that about says it all.

Rating:
Summary: A pleasure...
Review: ...to read and a work of art, as well. The colorful retro prints were a nice touch and the format (the story is told in three acts) was ingenious. Carter Beats the Devil is an entertaining and well-written read that is full of history and adventure.

The charming main character, Charles Carter, is based on a real-life magician of the same name and the story is "biographical." The book opens with Charles as a young boy full of magical dreams, and carries us through his trials and tribulations in the world of vaudeville and professional magic shows during the 1920's.

There is a bit of everything in here - danger, mystery, romance, adventure, fortunes won and lost - but the best part is that the story is told with a real literary flair and told well. Gold chooses his words artfully. He manages to conjure up brilliant images and the story never falters. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most unique reads I've ever had.
Review: I went into Carter Beats the Devil with no expectations. In fact, my interest was truly all about the cover (from a poster I stared at while eating burgers at Red Robin). Now 476 pages later I'm glad I took the time to be entertained by this thrilling one-of-a-kind tale.

Carter Beats the Devil is a period piece much like L.A. Confidential. Real people mingle with fictitious characters in situations that happened, might have happened, and probably didn't happen. The tale centers on second-tier magician Charles Carter who possibly killed 1920's President Warren Harding. Did he? Like everything else in the novel the reader is presented with clues and then taken for a ride straight out of left field.

One of the things that makes Carter Beats the Devil a truly unique read is the pacing. Parts move along at a medium speed, then some hints are dropped about what is coming around the corner, then a situation suddenly strikes, and we, the reader, are left to route for Carter has he attempts to escape with his life.

It's all here: murder, mystery, dastardly evil magicians, peril, crooked FBI agents, traps, love, history, action, suspense, and an overall fun time.

Rating:
Summary: Magic! (Or is it sleight of hand?)
Review: Glen Gold obviously did his homework before he wrote this book, because he uses every trick in the magician's trunk. Like a master conjurer, he draws your attention to the right hand, while the left hand does all the work. Part mystery, part adventure, and part misdirection, 'Carter Beats the Devil' will keep you turning the pages till the very end. By the time the illusion is stripped away and the truth revealed, you'll be hoping that Carter really does beat the Devil.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

Rating:
Summary: Starts with a bang
Review: Carter Beats the Devil opens with one of the most enjoyable, and downright thrilling, chapters I have read in the past several years. Real-life magician and illusionist Charles Carter gives a nightly show in San Francisco, in which audience members are sworn to secrecy about the much-heralded final act, in which Carter and the Devil try to top each other's spectacular feats of magic. In the novel's wild opening scene, President Harding is in attendance, and he agrees to come on stage where it appears he is eaten by a lion, only to be rescued from the lion's belly by Carter the Great. Two hours later, in his hotel, President Harding dies mysteriously, and the secret service want very much to have a word with Mr. Carter. How's that for a beginning?

Although the novel begins with a bang, and ends quite nicely, there are some fairly long passages here where the action drags to a halt, and the other characters in the novel (none of whom are drawn with the same careful attention as that given to Carter) fail to completely sustain our attention. At times the novel drifts toward a love story, and since the Carter character is drawn as a very introverted and secretive person, the reader can't connect much with this storyline and the pages occasionally drag on.

However I loved the nostalgiac reminiscing about the childhood of Charles and his brother, and his early efforts at escaping dangerous situations. There are several real-life historical figues like Francis "Borax" Smith, Harry Houdini and Philo Farnsworth who play prominent roles, and who add much to the authenticity and flavor of the novel. I also loved the glimpse at travelling Vaudeville troupes of the 1920's, and in particular some of the less successful acts that Carter shared the stage with as he rode the circuit.

Despite an occasional dry patch past the halfway point of the novel, I give it an enthusiastic 4 stars, maybe 4 1/2. Gold and his wife (Alice Sebold, who wrote the Lovely Bones) have written two books that could not be much more different, yet each of them have basked in well-deserved praise and plenty of sales. I will happily read anything that Gold writes after this one.

Rating:
Summary: Carter Beats Boredom
Review: I haven't been inspired to write a review in some time, but felt that this book warranted it. This is a truly, truly enjoyable read. Mr. Gold has a talent for being bold while at the same time inserting subtle themes in his writing.
I hate reading reviews that just tell what happens in the book, so I'll just give a few opinions. This book features many colorful characters, some actual historical figures, some not. They come and go throughout the novel at perfectly measured intervals: just when you think a character has fallen by the wayside, he/she is reintroduced in a new light and with a larger role to play in the plot.
"Carter Beats The Devil" is fun, engrossing, and at times even educational. It's definitely worth your time and money.