The gears of this thriller move expertly and fast... Tapper complicates this setup in savvy ways ... The seriousness of this book never gets in the way of the breathless fun. Tapper obviously enjoyed sourcing it, writing it and using can-you-top-this gamesmanship from start to finish. Just when you think he’s pulled the biggest rabbit out of his hat, he turns out to have been hiding something bigger ... humanizes Sinatra as a victim of forces he never understood and as one of the least objectionable members of the Rat Pack — less racist and more decent than either Dean Martin or Peter Lawford...He also makes Margaret a wonderful role model for the many people who will enjoy this buoyant book.
A pretty strong premise but the first half of the story reads more like a Hollywood gossip column than a mystery ... A strong opening but the story starts to sag from there through the first half of the book, as Tapper takes the reader into a lengthy backstory that leads up to finding the body ... just as the overkill of Hollywood and political stories starts to get old, the reader gets to the second part of the book, and activity starts to pick up ... there is a sense that many things are happening around Charlie and Margaret over which they have no control, and as protagonists, they don’t really take a strong role in resolving these mysteries ... Once one gets past the first half of the story, the pages begin to turn in more rapid succession. For those who are younger and not aware of many of the stories that Tapper relates, the gossip column aspect can be fun, but they still have to muddle through those stories to get to the meat of the matter ... However, Tapper is to be congratulated on the heavy research he did in order to bring these stories to the forefront.
Sinatra is the most intriguing and fully developed of the book’s famous characters, but Tapper deftly sketches all of them. The book is deeply researched, and he incorporates some actual conversations and performances, which can be shocking in their casual expressions of racism and misogyny, all too true to the era ... rich in research, packed with pop culture and historical detail. The book is set six decades ago, but neither politics nor show business has changed as much as we might hope. Tapper connects the dots, but does it with a light hand that doesn’t slow down the Marders’ adventures.
Nine pages of source material cited in the back of the book indicate that Tapper, best known as a CNN anchor, researched 1960s Hollywood to give the tale an air of authenticity. It didn't, although it did result in a blizzard of name dropping ... Except for the Marders and actress Janet Leigh, Tapper puts the stink of the place on nearly every character to such a degree that it's difficult to care what happens to any of them. Meanwhile, the prose rarely rises above graceless and the plot is so far-fetched and convoluted that it is difficult to follow.
Historical accuracy aside, Tapper’s plot is full of holes, starting with the absurdity of Bobby Kennedy blackmailing a Republican lawmaker to do his dirty work. It gets even sillier midway when Charlie and Margaret, separately, do something stupid that lands them in a life-threatening situation intended to be suspenseful from which they are extricated in ways that are even more implausible. Even so, The Devil May Dance is fun to read, with Tapper’s takeoff on the 1962 Oscars a special guilty pleasure. Glibly written, simultaneous funny and horrifying, there’s just enough ring of truth to titillate our memories and make us want to learn more about the foibles of the rich and the famous as we turn the page hungrily at the end of every provocative chapter.
... hugely entertaining ... he book has a thoroughly involving story and Tapper is clearly having a great time re-creating Tinseltown in the Swinging Sixties. Recommend this one to Robert J. Randisi’s Rat Pack series, including You Make Me Feel So Dead (2013).
Successful mysteries have been built on weaker premises, but Tapper does little in the way of plot construction. Stuffed with gossipy tidbits that have long withered on the vine and useless trivia, this sequel to The Hellfire Club (2018) never gains steam. Sinatra is a cardboard figure who rants a lot ... A would-be mystery boasting a smaller-than-life Sinatra.
