As with the baseball books, the text here is sprinkled with old photos and memorabilia to add a sense of verisimilitude. And as with those books, the story feels like a fairly slipshod scaffolding thrown up around a handful of historical tidbits. There’s a spooky supernatural mystery — is Houdini trying to switch places with Harry and escape the shackles of death? He also slips in some motivational patter (“You cannot get past fear unless you confront it,” Houdini texts Harry. And after you did it, there was no internet to spread the word.”The novel ends with a cheap trick, such that some may feel Gutman has crossed the line to cynicism.

Source: New York Times April 17, 2021 05:26 UTC