B&N Community

I was first drawn to The Devil's Ticket not by its nominal subject, bridge, but by its endorsements. That the book had received such vibrant praise from Erik Larson, the author of The Devil in the White City, and Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean indicated that this book, like theirs, threaded its narrative through places we've never been through before. The "devil's tickets" in the title are the queens and aces of card decks, but in author Gary Pomerantz's hands, they are also instruments in an early twentieth century Battle of the Sexes and the calling-cards of self-promoting showmen and politicians. There's an anger spurred bridge spouse killing in this book, but that's only the first card of its well-dealt hand.