false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179095358m/874028.jpg 4599 22 In <I>Carter Beats the Devil</I>, 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. <p> 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. <I>Carter Beats the Devil</I> 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. <I>--Mary Park</I> 859386 2001 Carter Beats the Devil total:1780|5:667|4:750|3:301|2:49|1:13| 1780 7349 2394 327 5 3 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 00:39:02 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 01:42:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Dec 27 11:35:51 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 21:35:00 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Aug 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 09:15:49 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 31 10:16:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 1 false false Fri Jun 20 13:43:14 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 07 08:19:44 -0800 2008 Fri Jun 20 13:43:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Aug 19 00:00:12 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 00:45:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Nov 19 20:15:49 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 19 20:20:22 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Oct 17 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon Apr 07 13:18:10 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 18:16:45 -0700 2008 Carter Beats the Devil is a historically fact-based novel about magician Charles Carter who performed in the golden age of magic (1890s thru the 1920s). This story pits Carter against rival magici...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 16:51:48 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 10 16:51:48 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue Sep 25 16:58:56 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 25 17:17:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 20:14:37 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 20:44:42 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Dec 02 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 08:28:02 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 08:34:23 -0800 2008 ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 20:12:28 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 20:33:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 02 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Jun 10 06:39:36 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 06:40:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Apr 07 15:30:09 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 15:36:43 -0700 2008
Friend: "So what are you reading."

Me: "Carter Beats The Devil, it's about a master magician battling a shadowy conglomerate of the government, corporations, and secret societies to find the truth about president Harding's death with...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 06 09:56:54 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 11:18:58 -0700 2009
This is a very fine historical novel set in the first two decades of the 20th century. It centers on Carter The Great, a sta...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Jun 27 03:28:45 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 27 03:31:58 -0700 2007
Set in the fictional world of 1920s magic, this references real people, such as Houdini, but the set-up is pure imagination.

Funny, entertaining, nail-biting and genuinely heart-warming, ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 11:19:44 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 06:28:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 20:35:30 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 19:03:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 13:56:13 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 14:01:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 23:18:02 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 14:33:13 -0700 2009
Found this book recommended in a San Francisco travel guide. Nice tip. Fictionalizes the last night of Warren G. Harding, but mostly focuses on creating a fiction version of the life of ...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=874028