But too often Gold lets his research become his tale when it should simply inform it storytelling and character development grind to a halt under the weight of all that imparted knowledge. He often historical data to set a scene to wonderful effect, describing in detail, for example, the strange and elaborate mechanisms magicians used to make bodies disappear and devils fly. It’s very clear that the author himself is enchanted by the history of magic. Woven throughout is his suspicious involvement in Harding’s death, which he can never shake, along with a rather odd federal agent, who dogs him every step of the way. After Carter turns his back on Yale and hits the vaudeville trail, eager to learn his craft, we follow him through the defeats of rival magicians, a meeting with Houdini, the early development of television, and on to his arrival at the pinnacle of the profession. Should he let the country in on it? From here, Gold backtracks to Carter’s early life in upper-middle-class, turn-of-the-century San Francisco, a period and place he lovingly re-creates. Indeed, the depressed Harding and the mysterious Carter even had an opportunity for a chat, in which, supposedly, Harding confided to Carter that he knew a terrible secret. (Sept.Debut historical, based on the real life of magician Charles Carter, that manages to get several balls in the air at once, only to let them drop along the way.Īccording to Gold’s account, President Warren Harding’s death in 1923 came only hours after he attended, and participated in, one of Carter’s performances.

Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover (Forecasts, Sept.

Listeners will lap up this enticing adventure.

His nasal interpretation of a corrupt conjurer named Mysterioso sounds like a slightly more dastardly version of Professor Hinkle of Frosty the Snowmanįame, and he is equally comfortable rendering young lovers' sweet nothings and the stentorian showmanship of a performer on stage. Tucci ( Big Night, Joe Gould's Secret) skillfully handles the wide array of often eccentric characters. The rest of Gold's debut novel follows the death's ramifications for Carter and those around him, while tracing the magician's own development through a series of flashbacks. Problems arise when Harding dies under strange circumstances two hours later.

Set in Roaring '20s San Francisco, the story takes off when President Harding agrees to appear in the finale of a show with magician Carter the Great, going through a series of dicey illusions before emerging on stage at the end to take a bow and declare his good health. Tucci gives Gold's bewitching tale of intrigue, deception and-most important of all-magic a performance of which both author and actor should be proud.

Carter beats the devil book