04/04/2022
Joseph McCarthy is the U.S. president in Weiss’s misfire of a debut, set in an alternative 1950s America. Agents of the House Un-American Activities Committee (called Hueys) spread fear wherever they go, and Humphrey Bogart, who speaks like his screen gangster persona, is McCarthy’s key propaganda tool in fighting communism, starring in such films as It Came from Planet Communist. Det. Morris Baker of the LAPD is called to a crime scene where two men have been fatally shot: out-of-work movie director John Huston and Walter Cronkite, “a young CBS reporter whose career was nothing special.” In Cronkite’s clenched fist, Baker finds a slip of paper with the words “Beat the Devils” and “Baker.” When two overbearing Hueys muscle in on the case, Baker decides to investigate on his own. He ends up being wooed by a possible Russian spy, facing off with Wernher von Braun, and uncovering at least two major conspiracies. Weiss loosely cobbles together these plot elements and many more in a repetitive, overly long narrative filled with superficial characterizations of people who are often just targets for quick cheap shots. An imaginative premise can’t save this one. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Mar.)
2022-01-12
In the alternative late-1950s America of Weiss' first novel, Commie-hater Joseph McCarthy is president, undesirables are being rounded up and deported, and it's open warfare on “individual[s] of Judaic Origins”—including LA police detective Morris Baker.
A Holocaust survivor of Czech origins, Baker is hooked on peach schnapps, has dingy sex with an aspiring actress, and suffers from recurring concentration camp nightmares. His life perks up when he's assigned to the celebrity double murder of rising TV journalist Walter Cronkite and forcibly retired film director John Huston. The investigation leads him to partner up with sexy Soviet spy Sophia Vikhrov, with whom he cutely uncovers a bomb plot involving imported German scientists, including Werner von Braun. For his troubles, Baker gets his front teeth knocked out by thugs from the House Un-American Activities Committee and, in a subsequent torture scene, has more teeth pulled (no subsequent signs of dental distress are evident). Edward R. Murrow makes a surprise appearance, Humphrey Bogart a decidedly un-Bogielike one, reduced to propagandist in films like It Came From Planet Communist! Fidel Castro and Che Guevera have been publicly executed. All the pieces for an edgy piece of speculative fiction are in place. But Weiss, no Philip Roth, falls into the trap of using collective trauma as a cheap backdrop for Baker’s shenanigans, and there’s something creepy about his treatment of Cronkite and Huston (whose film Beat the Devil inspired the book's title). In his acknowledgments, Weiss writes, “The story is, first and foremost, about Baker and his journey of adopting a new worldview.” Second and secondmost would have worked a lot better.
A reimagined America that is short on fresh ideas and long on misplaced humor.
"Reading Josh Weiss’s debut novel feels like riding shotgun with a friend who’s driving expertly through a winter storm... Weiss creates palpable emotional depth, particularly for Baker, whose yearslong tactic of burying trauma has stopped working."—The New York Times
“A debut novel from Josh Weiss, Beat the Devils delights in detective story tropes…The saloon shoot-outs, cryptic radio messages, grungy sunrises and ravishingly beautiful secret agents create a noir atmosphere redolent of Dashiell Hammett.”—The Forward
“Tight, well-paced, inventive, and inspirational, Weiss’ splendid debut is classic noir tinged with the slightest pinch of science fiction; readers can thrill to the bits of dissonant history they recognize, even as they revel in the mayhem and suspense that permeate the text.”—Mystery Scene Magazine
“America’s close call with the political paranoia of McCarthyism makes for one whopper of an alt-history backdrop for Beat the Devils... the novel is a tasty slice of noir fiction.”—SyFy Wire
“Clever and innovative: a page-turner.”—Mystery Tribune
"Beat The Devils by Josh Weiss blew me away. A brilliant alternate history, a riveting fifties-era noir crime caper, and an edge of your seat thriller—all wrapped into one! This is a stunning novel that takes readers for a mind-bending ride with elements that seem shockingly relevant in our current day and age."—Mark Greaney #1 NYT Bestselling Author of The Gray Man
"A thought-provoking dive into an alternative USA even weirder and wilder than our own. Weiss and his world-weary protagonist LAPD detective Morris Baker put the reader eerily at home in a twisted world of prejudice, privilege and murder, but amid the dark deeds there's hope and humour and heart. A fun, intelligent and satisfying read."—Ian R MacLeod, author of Wake Up and Dream
“Josh Weiss has announced himself as a bold new voice in the world of pulp noir fiction. One part Raymond Chandler, one part Philip Roth, a dash of Ben Hecht — and you’re about halfway there.”—J.D. Lifshitz, co-founder of BoulderLight Pictures and producer of The Vigil
“Thrillers involving the 1950s and an L.A. police detective are close to being a dime-a-dozen, but not so with Josh Weiss’s superb Beat the Devils. It takes place in 1958 Los Angeles, but very different from our own history, beginning with the shocking twist that the President of the United States is former Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy. Instead of the relative peace and prosperity of the Eisenhower years, we’re in the nightmare that is the McCarthy years, filled with Communist hunts among government agencies, businesses, and the media, as well as a secret police arresting and sometimes executing those suspected of disloyalty. Into this richly plotted and detailed novel is Detective Morris Baker, a Holocaust survivor who must navigate the dangerous times of this place, where Jews are second-class citizens, subject to pogroms and violence. A murder involving a prominent journalist and a famed film director sets him on a course of suspicion, betrayal, and double-crosses against a background of deep paranoia and permanent war. A remarkable achievement.”—Brendan DuBois, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Resurrection Day and Amerikan Eagle
"Alternate histories are difficult to craft, but the world of Beat the Devils is built with hair-raising perfection. Weiss holds a warped mirror to the American Dream — revealing dark undercurrents thread through with troubling, yet true, history. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!"—Ryan Graudin, award-winning author of Wolf by Wolf
“Much more than a thriller… Riveting — and scary.”—AudioFile
“A must-read for fans of alternate-history fiction.”—Booklist
“I love the use of historical LA and weaving the villainy and hypocrisy of Project Paperclip into the narrative was brilliant! The whole post-war cautionary tale of exponential McCarthyism is terrifyingly well-realized. It's an exceptional cautionary tale for the world that half our nation currently seems to want… Characters are vivid, endearing, and written with so much heart."—Patrick Lussier, editor of Scream 1-3 and writer/director of My Bloody Valentine 3D and Drive Angry
This audiobook is much more than a thriller. Set in an alternative history with red-scare flag bearer Joseph McCarthy as president, it blends fictional and real characters. As LAPD detective Morris Baker investigates two deaths, he becomes immersed in a cover-up that puts him in danger. The production would be a challenge for any narrator, but Fred Berman handles it beautifully. He performs a range of accents without missing a beat. The Czechoslovakian-born Baker has an Eastern European intonation that never wavers. Federal agents grunt their way through their investigations. Not one minor character is given short shrift. Berman also illuminates the theme of Baker’s Jewish identity. Overall, Berman’s narration perfectly renders the tone of this riveting—and scary—story. M.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
This audiobook is much more than a thriller. Set in an alternative history with red-scare flag bearer Joseph McCarthy as president, it blends fictional and real characters. As LAPD detective Morris Baker investigates two deaths, he becomes immersed in a cover-up that puts him in danger. The production would be a challenge for any narrator, but Fred Berman handles it beautifully. He performs a range of accents without missing a beat. The Czechoslovakian-born Baker has an Eastern European intonation that never wavers. Federal agents grunt their way through their investigations. Not one minor character is given short shrift. Berman also illuminates the theme of Baker’s Jewish identity. Overall, Berman’s narration perfectly renders the tone of this riveting—and scary—story. M.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
