Rating: 
Summary: Echoes of Doctorow's "Ragtime?"
Review: I loved it. Even though I'm not particularly fond of magicians or magic acts.I see that Amazon has excerpts. The section Amazon lists as "Intro pages" is really the beginning of the story (entitled "Overture.") When I read this section I was hooked. The rest of the book lived up to my expectations. I was attracted to it in the first place by the cover, and I think the cover artist (identified only as "GTC Art and Design") did a good job of conveying something of the spirit of the book, although not, perhaps, its sweet melancholy. First, the obvious. I don't happen to be a big fan of magic or magicians, but I'm sure that those who are will want to read this book. Those of us who are nerdy enough to know the name "Philo Farnsworth" will want to read it. (Come to think of it, is there such a thing as a Warren Harding aficionado? You, too, will want to read it...) "Carter Beats the Devil" reminded me of E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime," in a good way. When I read "Ragtime," I thought "What a wonderful, TOTALLY original book." And when I read "Carter Beats the Devil," I thought "This is a wonderful, original book--in the same genre as _Ragtime_." The book is a beautifully constructed page-turner, the kind that keeps you up late not merely because you want to know what happens next, but because you _care_ what happens to the people in it. I think you are expected to notice that Gold constantly makes use of misdirection. Events are constantly being foreshadowed, but when they occur there is always a surprising twist to them. And perhaps you are expected to notice that in accordance with the magician's code, Gold _never_ explains how any of the tricks described in the book are performed. I have to say that towards the end that becomes a little annoying; as the Church Lady used to say, "how CONVENIENT!" But perhaps it's necessary. For the book to work, Carter has to achieve miraculous-appearing things--beyond those that the historical Carter achieved. For the writer to achieve the near-miracles of developing workable methods of achieving these effects, he would need to be as skillful a magician as his fictionalized Carter. There are a few annoyances. Recently, I have read too many books that give me the impression that the writer is angling for a movie contract and has deliberately dropped a cinematic passage into a literary book. A novel in which the descriptions are interesting to READ will suddenly be interrupted by a long passage that sounds like a description of stuntwork. "Cut to the chase" is fine in a movie, but chases do not make interesting reading. To me, the climactic final battle between Carter and his nemesis Mysterioso had that flavor. Somehow, after reading that passage, I was not surprised to find that the movie of "Carter Beats the Devil" is, in fact, in the works. The literal-minded among us will cavil at the way he inconsistently invokes "grounding" to explain why an electric cable fails to electrocute the good guys at one point in the struggle yet electrocutes the bad guys later. And--I'm trying to avoid a spoiler here--I object to a certain plot point on the grounds that the surface of a wine bottle is CURVED.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful fairytale with sympathetic characters
Review: This book definitely offers a good read. I was pleasantly entertained by it for quite a few hours. The story is colorful and well written. The characters are sympathetic. I'm glad I bought it. All the same, I didn't rate it 5 stars. Here's why. The story, although pleasant, is a bit predictable. I was never surprised. I didn't feel comfortable in the time setting. I can't point out any inconsistencies, I don't know enough about the era, and there probably aren't any, but somehow it didn't feel right. I found myself looking for actual dates a few times, to assure myself about what time we lived in. Some of the minor characters were a bit flat. Charles his parents for example. Mysterioso disapeared too convincingly for my taste to reappear so dramatically. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I list its minuses here, because that might be more interesting to the prospective buyer.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful, rollicking old-fashioned adventure story!
Review: Glen David Gold's Carter Beats the Devil is a wonderful, rollicking, addictive old-fashioned adventure story. Set in the early 1920's, the story revolves around Charles Carter-master magician and illusionist. The book opens onto one of Carter's shows, one in which President Harding is an observer and a participant. Harding dies that night. Following the show. The secret service believes Carter played a role in the President's death. The book is a wonderful character study filled with interesting, eccentric characters-both fictional and historical. It is a fine piece of period historical fiction of late 19th and early 20th Century San Francisco. It has wonderful detail about magic and magicians-both fictional and historical, including some of the greats of the early 20th century, like Houdini and Thurston. It is a novel of suspense and intrigue. In short-this is a deep, rich narrative that works very, very well on many levels. I frankly became engrossed in it and found it a very hard book to put down. This is a great story that is well written and very engaging. If you love great stories, this is your book! I hope that Gold has many more such tales "up his sleeve" (so to speak)!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I am usually a sucker for a book cover, so I figured this HAD to be good. I haven't finished the book yet and I'm not sure that I will. The most descriptive word I can use is uneven. Some parts of the story are interesting (Carter outfoxes Mysterioso & meets Houdini), and other parts are dead boring (a young Carter & his brother are left to fend for themselves for days & the Secret Service agent's background). So far I have found it neither thrilling, nor suspenseful.
Rating:
Summary: Not much of a mystery but a fun journey back to Roaring 20¿s
Review: Glen David Gold captures the whirlwind that was the 1920's in Carter Beats the Devil. Charles Carter, a contemporary of Houdini's, is the Carter in question and Gold does a fine job of mixing fact with fantasy to create this mixture of history, romance and mystery. The novel is a delight when Gold shows us Carter as a man who tries constantly to achieve the next level in performance, to leave the audience stunned by the magic of the moment. Carter's trials and tribulations are intriguing enough to support the novel. The problem lies with the all the extraneous action, Warren G. Harding's death, the disgraced secret service agent who is sure Carter has something to do with it, and Carter's "magical" nemesis Mysterioso. The mystery itself is not very challenging, and actually leads to a very long, drawn out climax that really would work better as the end of a movie.
The true enjoyment of the novel comes from the characters that come back to life in Gold's capable hands. The imperious Houdini, some performing brothers named Leonard, Adolph and Julius (better known by their stage names), and even a young inventor named Philo Farnsworth make delightful appearances. Gold recreates the 20's with an ease that is appreciated by the reader. From BMW motorcycles and Pierce Arrows to PEZ, Gold makes it all work. It's easy to forget this is fiction when Gold focuses on Carter and his world of magic.
Rating:
Summary: Carter Beats The Devil
Review: I loved this book! The pages magically turned themselves, and I lost some nights sleep not being able to put it down! All books should be this well written.
Rating:
Summary: Magical!
Review: "Carter Beats the Devil" is a refreshing and enjoyable read set during the Roaring 20s. Gold accurately brings to life an entire period of American history: the advent of television, cars, radio, the death of President Harding and, of course, magicians like Houdini, and Carter the Great. Detailed and lively, "Carter Beats the Devil" is a bit lenghty, but the reader is well rewarded with an intense, action-filled ending... Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointing illusion
Review: The Southern California community of television writers must be one of the most loving and supportive of all professional groups. How else to explain so many impossibly glowing reviews for the novels of the likes of Erik Tarloff, and now Glen David Gold, than the love and support of their colleagues? This book has been heaped with such an incredible amount of undeserved and unbelievably pure praise by "customer reviewers" here ("fabulous", "wildly entertaining", "flawless", "a gem", "extraordinary", etc., etc.), one can't help but suspect some form of support network may be behind it all. (Okay, and maybe a paid publicist or two.) Like Tarloff, Gold certainly has a good grasp of the Hollywood arts of high concept and hype. The subject matter sounds great: Mystery! Magic! History! The book is compared to the works of such popular and talented writers as E.L Doctrow, Michael Chabon, and Caleb Carr. And the "customer" reviews and friendly jacket blurbs are certainly glowing. Heck, there's even a carterbeatsthedevil.com website where you can play 21 with the devil himself. Who can resist? But unfortunately, the book itself is a huge letdown compared to the promise. The characters are two-dimensional, the pace (save for the absurdly action-packed ending) is plodding, and the disjointed plot includes too many events that should be interesting, but just aren't. Even such supposedly evocative and startling scenes as the torturing of children or the sudden violent death of a spouse fail to arouse much more than a yawn. I wanted to like this book. It promised so much fun. But in the end, I found I couldn't. Sadly, the fun that was promised turned out to be only a very disappointing illusion.
Rating:
Summary: Great!!
Review: This book is a great read, a true page turner that pulls you into a beautifully complete world full of mystery and magic. Totally compelling from end to end. I read it in one sitting and then started reading it again from the beginning, taking more time to luxuriate in the time period and characters that Gold has expertly drawn. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to be swept away by a great story.
Rating:
Summary: A Magical, Mystical Tour
Review: Glen David Gold takes the character of Carter the Great, a real magician from the Houdini era, weaves in President Warren G. Harding and Philo Farnsworth the inventor of television to create a wonderful story of deception with stunts we know can't be real but really want to believe... Flashback to 1910 when 22-year-old Charles Carter IV, accepted at Yale, rebelliously heads for vaudeville as a coin and card man. On tour with the arrogant headliner Mysterioso, Carter upstages him at the San Francisco Orpheum and gets fired. Then his career is launched when Houdini exposes Mysterioso... and takes Carter under his wing... All kinds of people are trying to disrupt Carter's life including Secret Service Agents...leading to an exciting finale full of surprises. This was a great story to listen to on tape. Both author Gold and reader Tucci deserve 5 stars.
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