Rating: 
Summary: Not to be devoured, but savored
Review: Wow. The favorable reviews that induced me to read "Carter Beats the Devil" did not do the book justice, and neither will this one. Readers of all genres should enjoy the book. Reading it turned out to be not merely a pleasurable experience, but a downright self indulgent one. While the plot is a page turner from the start, the character development and dialogue are crafted so richly (and wittily, where appropriate) that readers won't be tempted to rush. A lot of books start out great but then disappoint; this book keeps up the pace and high quality of its opening consistently until the end. I frequently found myself feeling grateful that the author continued to treat every page, every paragraph, with the same effort and pride that he obviously invested in the beginning. A rare treat.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated.
Review: Be warned. The real magician's are the marketing people at Hyperion who have convinced enough people to buy this book to make it a bestseller. This book is not all its cracked up to be. Carter's adventures are generally pretty dull and uninspired. The storyline often didn't make sense. People do things for seemingly no apparent reason and when an explanation is given it often doesn't make sense. About the only thing interesting was the historical detail, such as Gold's depiction of the world of vaudeville. But there was very little of that. Most of the book is concerned with Carter's adventures, which tend to be pretty dull and uninspired.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical, Witty and Historical
Review: This book is hard to define because just when you think it's one thing, you turn the page and it becomes something else entirely.The book is at once a historical study of the San Francisco elite of the years before the Great Depression, a political thriller complete with assasination attempts and FBI agents, a story of magic and the science behind it, a romance and a tale of a man and his family. This book is highly entertaining and given its ability to morph into something else every few pages, really keeps you interested in not just the main story arch but in the multitude of characters big and small that litter Charles Carter's life.
Rating:
Summary: Gold Conjures Up Some Magic of His Own
Review: "Carter Beats the Devil" is the epic, but fictionalized, tale of real-life magician Charles Carter and his rise to near Houdini-like fame. It is an ambitious first outing for novelist Glen David Gold who just happens to be the husband of author Alice Sebold. While Gold received much critical praise for "Carter," these days Sebold must own household bragging rights as her own debut novel, "The Lovely Bones," has dominated the best-seller lists for nearly a year. Other novelists must be wondering what exactly is in the water at the Gold/Sebold household! There is little to quibble about Gold's writing style. This is not a quick read but one that takes its time in creating a canvas of 1920s America and the people who inhabit it. That said, the nearly five-hundred novel does have it slow moments as readers wait for the payoff regarding the novel's central secrets - the mysterious death of President Warren G. Harding shortly after attending one of Carter's magic shows. However, if one is merely focused on the resolution of that plotline alone one may be disappointed in the commitment needed to reach this point. Gold's work is ultimately all about savoring the many unusual characters (Carter's blind female love interest, a fumbling FBI agent, the librarian smitten with the agent, a circus lion with tons of personality jump to mind) and the intriguing life of Charles Carter. With this debut novel, Gold has been burdened with comparisons to E.L. Doctorow, Caleb Carr, and Michael Chabon. While Chabon's "Kavelier" is on my to-read list, it is easy to see why the other two authors are mentioned as both Doctorow and Carr have created works in a similar vein (early 20th century America, mixing fact and fiction through the use of real-life historical figures). In my opinion, Gold falls short in this league as Doctorow is arguably one of the best American writers out there, while Carr with "The Alienist" produced a more compelling page-turner. But comparisons aside, there is certainly nothing terribly wrong with "Carter Beats the Devil" if it is simply allowed to stand on its own. It is a recommended read for those looking for a richly detailed, well-written work. Gold is definitely on my reading list radar for the future.
Rating:
Summary: What I Thought Was Love Was Only A Fling
Review: "Carter Beats The Devil" caused the first great literary transgression of my adult reading career. Over Christmas I picked up "Carter" at a Borders. Like all regrettable flings it started with pure lust: I spied it in the store and thought the cover looked good. The word of mouth (from the blurbs on the back) was that this book was a hot, easy-going thing that would put out as much as you were willing to take. I was sold. On the Christmas cruise I took, then, I read half of it quickly---240 pages or so. They were mostly fast turning, but towards the middle I noticed something weird: I didn't care any more. I regarded the book with complete indifference. What was this thing I was holding in bed at 2 am struggling to get through? It just wasn't working. Luckily, my roommate bought me "The Hours" as a surprise gift upon my return and since the movie came out last week we both promised to read it so we could see it together. And over these past few weeks "The Hours" and I really hit it off. I finished it last night in a marathon reading spree that was completely gratifying in a way "Carter Beats The Devil" never could be. Which is why it was so hard for me tonight when I spied it on my night stand at 1 am, lying beneath the copy of Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" which I had just purchased. Zadie's book was purple and shiny and its romantic overtures beckoned to me in a way that almost subdued my pity for "Carter." But there "Carter" was---all red and lonely, halfway read and utterly defeated, helpless and destitute. Which leads to my abominable transgression. Like a lover who ended a relationship but still has residual guilt, I pulled pathetic "Carter" off the table and engaged it in what was a mindless, page skimming that resulted in a numb, empty feeling: the reader's equivalent of loveless sex. When it was over I felt cheap and dirty and there was "Carter" feeling momentarily vindicated, yet cognizant that it was over now. This would never happen again. I carried its limp, catatonic body to the bottom rung of my bookshelf where I hid it among the old college books, plays I'll never read, and a Beatles picture book.
Rating: 
Summary: Why put historical figures in fantasy situations?
Review: This book is an odd mix of melodrama and historical events. Parts of it don't make sense (the kidnapping by the Feds - are they trying to kill him or not?), and other parts are pure whimsy, leaving me to wonder how much is true and how much was invented by this writer who seems to have learned too much about plotting from Saturday matinee serials. Real people - Carter, Houdini, President Harding, Philo Farnsworth - are thrown in with fictional constructs like the evil magician, the earnest cop, and so on. I'd have rather Gold made up all his characters, or stuck to reality. The "Golly Gosh Wow" story feels contrived, even though the presentation of the color and detail of period magic displays is intriguing. Carter is great fun to read. It just pissed me off.
Rating:
Summary: a very solid story, great characterization, good humor
Review: An extremely satisfying read
Rating:
Summary: A thrilling illusion of real history
Review: Ever since I was a child, I've been fascinated by magic. The books I sought out in grammar school were ones that had magic in the title (Andre Norton's are the most memorable). I bugged my parents one year for a magic kit and received it for a birthday or Christmas present, I can't remember which. But I never became adept at performing tricks, preferring to be the fooled instead of the fooler. I wanted to believe in magic, to live in the world of imagination, and understanding how a trick was actually performed was too much of reality. Thirty years later, I seek a different magic--that achieved by putting specific words in sequence to illuminate a different reality. Glen David Gould's book has that magic, as well as the magician that I could never become, Charles Carter, as its hero and protagonist. Gould's sleight-of-hand is deft, as he takes real personages like Carter, President Warren G. Harding, and Harry Houdini, and performs a virtuoso illusion of history, a history that you want to believe in, because Gould's patter and delivery is so strong, and one that you don't regret having believed in because it is so good. The prologue sets the mystery up. Pres. Harding attends a San Francisco performance of Carter the Great's magic show, including taking part in the infamous third act entitled "Carter Beats the Devil," which the audience is instructed not to reveal any of the details so as not to ruin it for future crowds. Unfortunately, Harding dies later that night, and Carter becomes a suspect, if only in rumor. His mysterious nature may prove his downfall as first the details of his third act are published in the paper, details that only further the gossip that he might have had a hand in Harding's death. The novel then moves back in time to show us how Carter got to be in that place, including his discovery of a book on magic when younger and his slow rise through the vaudeville circuit, including his sudden leap to fame. I can't say anymore, because any more might destroy the illusion. This is a deft work, made all the more so because it is the author's first novel. The easy comparison is to that other recent bestselling historical revisionism, Michael Chabon's The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and while the two have some similarities, they are vastly different in theme. Gould's is more of a thrill ride than Chabon's exegesis on how superheroes are an inherently American phenomenon. While I enjoyed Gould's book tremendously and highly recommend it, it doesn't have the deeper layers of meaning of Chabon's work.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Story -- Disappointing Ending -- Worth Reading
Review: Let's face it: it's hard not to be enticed by a story that involves a historical magician of some renown (Charles Carter) in a plot that involves the possible assasination of a president, Philo Farnsworth, Borax Smith and a team of bumbling Secret Service Agents that remind you of the Keystone Cops. That said, it's often hard to take such an outlandish story and make it ring true in the end. After reading chapter after chapter of a fun story, the ending was so strange that it almost ruined it for me. Still, I have to marvel at what an interesting book the author created. While disappointed with the ending, I enjoyed the journey or getting to the end. Finally, I should close this review with an observation regarind the Creative Writing Progam at the University of California, Irvine. The roster of published writers from that program is quite impressive (Aimee Bender, Michael Chabon, Richard Ford, and Louis B. Jones among others) and bodes well for future releases.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Read, But Overly Ambitious and Too Politically Correct
Review: Fast paced, creative, captivating story, which weaves suspense, history, social commentary, good humor and, of course, magic into one book. The problem is, Gold tries to do too much in his first novel, without entirely succeeding in any one area. The suspense story is compelling but, ultimately, illogical. The biggest disappointment for me was Gold's infusion of political correctness into his story. Advocates of women's rights, gay rights, animal rights, native american rights, disabled persons' rights all have something to cheer about in the first part of last century, while the government, of course, remains evil (for no apparent reason, the secret service is out to kill the protagonist). This political correctness undercuts the book's credibility as an historical novel. Still, it's a fun read and those who love magic will enjoy learning about that art during the height of its popularity. (But don't believe for a minute that "Carter the Great" refused to saw women in half because it glorified violence against women -- in truth, this was one of the real Carter's most popular illusions).
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