AMORALMAN

A boy enthralled by magic becomes an accomplished swindler.

In his entertaining debut memoir, performer, artist, and magician DelGaudio recounts his transformation from a child who loved magic tricks to a professional card cheat immersed in a world of high-stakes grifters. Raised by a single mother who, he was shocked to discover, was gay, the author grew up in homophobic Colorado towns where, “next to food and water, secrecy had become an essential part of my survival.” Feeling like an outcast at school, he gravitated to a local magic shop, where Walt, the owner, became his mentor. With Walt’s guidance, and the books and videos that he devoured, DelGaudio mastered sleight of hand so well that Walt pushed him to meet professional magicians and, finally, connected him with Ronnie, a well-known hustler. Although DelGaudio was overcome with stage fright when performing magic tricks and balked at the idea of fooling an audience, he was clearly talented at duping poker players. Befriending his young protégé, Ronnie tried to shelter him from unsavory gamblers. Nevertheless, DelGaudio was drawn into a convoluted scheme that involved his dealing for poker games in a lavish Hollywood mansion. At first doubting his abilities, he admits to having been “so blown away by the elegance of this gambit, I almost forgot about the anxiety I was experiencing.” Throughout, he creates animated portraits of the many nasty characters he encountered and conveys a vivid sense of the greed and deception pervasive among gamblers, shills, and liars. Ultimately, he admits, “dealing gave me a chance to recognize my value.” At first, although he “had anticipated that I’d have strong feelings of guilt or remorse after cheating at cards,” in fact, he didn’t—until a surreal experience at the poker table awakened him to the reality of what he was perpetrating and who he had become.

A lively tale of immersion in—and escape from—the underworld.