Name: Carter Beats the Devil
Rating: 4.272727272727272 (11 reviews)
ISBN: 9780753145470

Glen David Gold

Jeff Harding

A Novel

Carter Beats the Devil

Glen David Gold's literary debut dazzled critics and fans from coast to coast. Now Carter's center stage for a spectacular paperback . . . The response to Glen David Gold's debut novel, Carter Beats the Devil was extraordinary. He hypnotized us with his portrait of a 1920s magic-obsessed America and of Charles Carter -- a.k.a. Carter the Great -- a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeded even that of the great Houdini. Filled with historical references that evoke the excesses and exuberance of Roaring Twenties pre-Depression America, Carter Beats the Devil is a complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical and sometimes dangerous world, where illusion is everything.

Tim Pendry

A fairly entertaining adventure centred on the world of stage magic betwen the 1890s and 1920s in San Francisco. it was my second reading after a decade and a half and it says something that there were only flickers of recognition that I had read it once before. The author has done his research on the period but it is not a particularly realistic story (at times, almost ridiculously not) while the attitudes of the writer are those of the end of the twentieth century - an openly gay couple, damaged but strong and independent women and so forth. The hero, Carter, sometimes seems to be the author's alter ago so that other characters lack depth and the plotting is, well, very like that of a decent Netflix job. It starts well and seriously but declines a bit into something more conventional. I can't argue against it but I can't really get enthusiastic either.

Alexia

This book is filled with references to real-life events and people, and the author has created a detailed depiction of the 20's atmosphere, which was very original and interesting paired with fictional situations and characters. 
I have always been interested in the world of magic and magicians, and this bookmade me want to read more about that era and subject. I will definitely be picking up a book on Houdini's life that has been sitting in my bookshelf for a while and I am determined to find a copy of some of the books the author used for ispiration and investigation, such as The Illustrated History of Magic.

Channing Williford

Nick Mastenbroek

Becky A

Ashley Janssen

Cal Desmond‐Pearson

Ewan

Greg Park

Sean McGilvray

Glen Gold

An amazing, richly evocative novel of magic and history in the tradition of E. L. Doctorow and Caleb Carr. America in the 1920s was a nation obsessed with magic. Not just the kind performed in theaters and on stages across the country, but the magic of technology, science, and prosperity. Enter Charles Carter -- a.k.a. Carter the Great -- a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeds even that of the great Houdini. Fueled by a passion for magic that grew out of desperation and loneliness, Carter has become a legend in his own time. His thrilling act involves outrageous stunts carried out on elaborate sets before the most demanding audiences. But the most outrageous stunt of all stars none other than President Warren Harding and ends up nearly costing Carter the reputation he worked so hard to create. Filled with historical references that evoke the excesses and enthusiasm of postwar, pre-Depression America, Carter Beats the Devil is the complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical -- and sometimes dangerous -- world, where illusion is everything, and everything is illusory.

Carter Beats the Devil A Novel

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