Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Art Thief by Noah Charney

Pieces of art are being stolen and nothing seems connected. Or is it? That is the job of Inspector Wickenden. Genevieve Delacloche takes care of the society dedicated to the painter Kasimir Malevich. When one of his best paintings is stolen, she gets help from not only the Inspector but she has him call in Gabriel Coffin. Yet all seems right in the end, but is there truly honor among thieves?

Mr. Charney has done a fabulous job of confusing me until the end. Things that I thought were right were not. Having the knowledge about art truly helped me understand how they verify paintings once they acquire them from either people who donate them or if they win them through an auction.

Genevieve works for this society because her father at one time sold a painting to be able to take care of some debts. It happened to be by the painter Malevich and now working for the society she can keep an eye on all his paintings and hopefully acquire the one that was sold. Inspector Wickenden is the only man I did not see with any fault. He wanted the truth to be solved and put his whole heart into it. I really appreciated his efforts to do what he needed to but he never crossed the line. Gabriel Coffin helps solve cases but he also lectures all around the world. He tries to bring in as much income as he can. His secrets are very surprising.

I was disappointed in a couple of these characters. I expected better but was left flat. I knew people would do anything to get what they want but I felt the ones who were behind it all went way too stinking far! It almost got to the point where it pissed me off. I have read a quick blurb for his next book and I hope it will be much better. I don’t like giving up on authors.

Noah Charney, New Author, Art, Thieves, 304 pages, Simon and Schuster, 3 out of 5

Next up is Four Wives by Wenday Walker. :) After that finally a review book for CTR.

2 comments:

Literary Feline said...

I liked this one, but wasn't overly impressed by it. I loved the art history tidbits throughout, but thought they bordered on lecturing. The author definitely did keep you guessing, didn't he? Nothing was quite what it seemed.

Lover of Books said...

Same here but you know the art aspects about it were fun! You know having taking an art history class I found that stuff fascinating. lol Oh well. :)Yeah it was quite the surprise at the end.