A review by jmeston
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold

4.0

Still reverberating from the smash ending. I kept laughing aloud as another callback was invoked and another expectation exploded. I was quite surprised to read in the afterward that (the Great) Charles Carter was a real person. The character was handled with so much knowing that I assumed he was a vivid fiction placed carefully in the historic setting. I enjoyed it as a visit to teens/twenties SF and Oakland. And the author's messages gave me pleasure: Recurrence is inevitable. Wonder is the purpose of life and it is the Devil who diverts us toward acceptance and fatigue. The only quibbles I'll mention are 1) that Charles' and James' father's outre interests are very important and then never mentioned again; 2) James and Tom's partnership is perhaps too modern. Really fun -- what great prose in the service of a truly creative and entertaining ride.