On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth today over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye. Claire makes her living reproducing famous works of art for a popular online retailer. Desperate to improve her situation, she lets herself be lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting-one of the Degas masterpieces stolen from the Gardner Museum-in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when the long-missing Degas painting-the one that had been hanging for one hundred years at the Gardner-is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. Claire's search for the truth about the painting's origins leads her into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save her life. B. A. Shapiro's razor-sharp writing and rich plot twists make "The Art Forger" an absorbing literary thriller that treats us to three centuries of forgers, art thieves, and obsessive collectors. it's a dazzling novel about seeing-and not seeing-the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.
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[Boston, MA - In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers bound and gagged two guards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole thirteen works of art worth today of $500 million](Algonquin Books, 21 May 2013 (first published 2012), 386 pages, ebook, borrowed from my library, Popsugar 2018 Reading Challenge, a book involving a heist)
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I was dreading reading a book for this category. I expected books involving a heist would be about bank robbery's which did not appeal. I was relieved when I stumbled across The Art Forger.
The Art Forger is hugely enjoyable. It's not a brilliant book but it is very entertaining, crime fiction very different from the stuff I usually read.
This book is a contemporary take on Faust, making a dangerous pact in exchange for fame, wealth and money.
Claire is a great character, very real, raw and personable. She didn't ask as many questions as she should have before getting involved in Aiden's scheme. Her reasons for ignoring her gut instincts are understandable and make her all the more human.
The book has a lot of technical information about painting, the art world and art forgery. I found this really interesting. It made a nice change from reading crime fiction about gruesome murders.
The Art Forger is a lot of fun with some dark moments blended in.
