The Art Thief: A Novel [Paperback]

 

 

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The Art Thief is a great book! The story revolves around three separate thefts of valuable art and, as each story unfolds, they begin to merge into one larger theft. The knowledge of the author about the art world makes this story completely believable while also educating the reader about the world of art acquisition and theft. The main characters are believable and complex and intertwined in ways that are surprising to the reader. I enjoyed the flow of this book with the movement among the three stories. Each story was so interesting in its own right that I found it difficult to find a place where I was willing to put down the book! I have added this author, Noah Charney, to my list of writers whose future work I will ensure to read!

Every once in a great while a debut novel comes along that's head and shoulders above the rest. My response to Noah Charney's initial work is "Eureka! It's the mother lode!" The Art Thief is an intellectual, witty, page-turning tale of three art thefts which take place in the most fascinating-to-read-about settings - Rome, Paris, and London.

Mr. Charney has an amazing ability to describe his characters so originally, so memorably that you feel you actually know them. Surely, if I saw a man wearing "his smile like a crown of thorns," I'd immediately recognize Professor Barrow. Or, should I spy on a London street a fellow with a coat that revealed a "coffee colored lining, which hung, a corner ripped out and dragging," I'd want to say good day to Harry Wickenden - even if he was not consulting "his ten-pound gold Rolex watch." Should I have the good fortune to be dining in Paris and see the porcine Inspector Jean-Jacques Bizot, he'd be quickly placed as "His brambly peppered beard was a tangle of chin and leftovers, and bounced of its own volition, revealing his gummy smile." It's sheer pleasure to follow each of their adventures.

Our story opens in Italy, in a small church, Santa Giulana. The church's pride is a Caravagio altarpiece, which disappears in the dark of night. No clues, no trace, only a distraught Father Amoroso.

The Malevich Society in Paris, overseen by the erudite, chain smoking Genevieve Delacloche, is in a turmoil as its prime painting, White on White, by Kasimir Malevich has disappeared from the impenetrable vault in the Society's basement.

In London the National Gallery of Art pays an astounding 6.3 million pounds for what is to be the centerpiece of an upcoming exhibit. But, despite tight security odd things are occurring at the Gallery. Closed-circuit television screens reveal movement in the basement utility room but the screens don't show anyone. Those monitoring the screens can't communicate with other security personnel; they cannot call the police as their phones are dead. Their latest acquisition is gone, and a hefty ransom demanded.

To perplex further the thieves leave notes, clues, if you will, that tease. How any of these thefts could be connected will both confound and enthrall readers.

Mr. Charney's novel is rich in art history and abounds with detail regarding art thievery, such as the fact that "90% of all criminal collectors of art are people of wealth and society." Most often they are men who have amassed art quite legitimately through auctions and galleries. Information of this sort springs easily from Mr. Charney as he is the founding director of the first consulting group on art crime prevention and solution. It's clear that he is passionate about art and all its facets.

However, the appeal of The Art Thief is not limited to art lovers, Francophiles, Anglophiles, or Italophiles as it stands alone as a story of compelling suspense. My one caveat would be that the art lectures delivered by one of his characters tended to run on for a bit, while this reader wanted to get to the bottom of all the intriguing double dealing going on. Nonetheless, that was a small price to pay for such an absorbing, sophisticated page-turner.

- Gail Cooke

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