Scan barcode
A review by bucket
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
3.0
I thoroughly enjoyed the earliest third of this book, which features Charles Carter's early life. This was the least action-packed part of the book, and I definitely preferred this more literary part that shows how and why Charles Carter becomes Carter the Great.
My favorite moment is when a young Charles is lying in bed awake at night: "In the middle of the night, with his father and brother asleep, and his mother having an adventure, he felt fits of longing for places he'd never been, places he couldn't describe, and he wondered if there were anyone else like him in the world, awake and catching glimpses of the unknown."
The rest of the book was really not my thing (it's part mystery, part crime, and all thriller) but by then I was invested in the characters. It also really helped that all the magic and illusions in the book are historically accurate - it was a fascinating part of history to learn about that I doubt I would have come across any other way. Gold's research was exceptional, and even though I'm not much interested in thrillers, I can respect what he did.
Gold also has a literary-style, even in the midst of murder and mayhem, and I did find a few nuggets for a reader like me in the last two-thirds of the book.
About how Charles handles his grief: "Meanwhile, his astral body floated in the clouds overhead, sending back occasional faint whispers of pain along the silver cord connected to his earthly body, which moved, and smiled, and conjured."
About why people love magic: "What the public wanted was to marvel twice, once at what they'd seen, and then again at how progress, in which they had faith, could still be trumped by the hand of God."
Themes: magic, vaudeville, 1920s, mystery, crime, thriller
My favorite moment is when a young Charles is lying in bed awake at night: "In the middle of the night, with his father and brother asleep, and his mother having an adventure, he felt fits of longing for places he'd never been, places he couldn't describe, and he wondered if there were anyone else like him in the world, awake and catching glimpses of the unknown."
The rest of the book was really not my thing (it's part mystery, part crime, and all thriller) but by then I was invested in the characters. It also really helped that all the magic and illusions in the book are historically accurate - it was a fascinating part of history to learn about that I doubt I would have come across any other way. Gold's research was exceptional, and even though I'm not much interested in thrillers, I can respect what he did.
Gold also has a literary-style, even in the midst of murder and mayhem, and I did find a few nuggets for a reader like me in the last two-thirds of the book.
About how Charles handles his grief: "Meanwhile, his astral body floated in the clouds overhead, sending back occasional faint whispers of pain along the silver cord connected to his earthly body, which moved, and smiled, and conjured."
About why people love magic: "What the public wanted was to marvel twice, once at what they'd seen, and then again at how progress, in which they had faith, could still be trumped by the hand of God."
Themes: magic, vaudeville, 1920s, mystery, crime, thriller