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Loading... Carter Beats the Devilby Glen David Gold
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I bought this because the reviews were great, but I was disappointed. I got half way through the book and realized I didn't really care about any of the characters, starting with Carter. He spends most of the book glooming about the tragedies in his life; it turns out at one point that he doesn't know how much money he has; the real Charles Carter, a successful stage magician, can't possibly have been such a nebbish. The ending (no spoilers!) was interesting and suggestive but the book just wambled along. (  ) hedera | Nov 7, 2009 |  Charles Carter was a real-life Magician who lived in America in the 1920's at the same time as Harry Houdini. This thick volume of 560 pages describes his life in fictional terms which adds flesh to the bare bones of his life. Following an essential preamble involving the President,the tale proper begins with Charles ,aged nine together with his younger brother James at the family home. Several events occur which shape their lives forever and mould the future career of Charles Carter. This career is to be that of the stage magician 'Carter the Great'.Many of his illusions are described,during the course of this book,although quite rightly not many of the solutions. In the course of the story he makes both friends and enemies (one of the latter sets out to ruin,and perhaps to kill him).He also finds the two great loves of his life. I found this book exciting,touching and really beautifully written.It held my interest right to the end and made me impatient for Glen David Gold's next offering. (  ) devenish | Jul 16, 2009 | Carter beats the Devil is ultimately a whodunit, but Gold spends a large proportion writing brilliant back stories to the central characters. These back stories are what makes this novel, for me, a very enjoyable read. The plot is littered with sub-plots which can get lost some times but ultimately as the book comes together gives you a great sense of 1920s San Francisco. Highly recommended. (  ) willpalmer | May 23, 2009 | This is a marvelous novel about Charles Carter, aka Carter the Great, a magician. It covers from his youth in the 1890s into his greatest show in the 1920s. Along the way the story involves Houdini, creation of great magic, two great loves, Philo Farnsworth and the creation of television, and a lion. Glen Gold has the talent to make it all work spectacularly. Recommended. ( ) reannon | Apr 1, 2009 | I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters, the plot, the interweaving of details and historical things. I can't recommend it enough! ( ) herebebooks | Nov 3, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Amazon.com's Best of 2001 (ISBN 0340794992, Paperback)In Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold subjects the past to the same wondrous transformations as the rabbit in a skilled illusionist's hat. Gold's debut novel opens with real-life magician Charles Carter executing a particularly grisly trick, using President Warren G. Harding as a volunteer. Shortly afterwards, Harding dies mysteriously in his San Francisco hotel room, and Carter is forced to flee the country. Or does he? It's only the first of many misdirections in a magical performance by Gold. In the course of subsequent pages, Carter finds himself pursued by the most hapless of FBI agents; falls in love with a beautiful, outspoken blind woman; and confronts an old nemesis bent on destroying him. Throw in countless stunning (and historically accurate) illusions, some beautifully rendered period detail, and historical figures like young inventor Philo T. Farnsworth and self-made millionaire Francis "Borax" Smith, and you have old-fashioned entertainment executed with a decidedly modern sensibility.Gold has written for movies and TV, so it's no surprise that he delivers snappy, fast-paced dialogue and action scenes as expertly scripted as anything that's come out of Hollywood in years. Carter Beats the Devil has a mustachioed villain, chase scenes, a lion, miraculous escapes, even pirates, for God's sake. Yet none of this is as broadly drawn as it might sound: Gold's characters are driven by childhood sorrows and disappointments in love, just like the rest of us, and they're limned in clever, quicksilver prose. By turns suspenseful, moving, and magical, this is the historical novel to give to anyone who complains that contemporary fiction has lost the ability to both move and entertain. --Mary Park (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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