The Art Forger - B.A. Shapiro - 2 stars

[Jgrace]

The Art Forger
The Art Forger - B.A. Shapiro
2 stars

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This is true. The paintings have never been found. The thieves haven’t been caught. These factual statements are the only believable plot points in this work of fiction.

The story has essentially three plot lines. The contemporary story is about Claire Roth, a talented, but struggling young artist. Claire is painting reproductions for a meager living because she has been black-listed by the Boston art establishment. The reader is treated to intermittent flashbacks of the extreme stupidity and disastrous love affair of her recent past which apparently explains her currently desperate situation. She knows she has talent. She’s desperate for a good gallery showing, so she agrees to paint a copy of one of Isabella Gardner’s famous stolen paintings. She is copying from the real painting which is delivered to her studio by a ‘friend’ who will not reveal how he acquired it. Does this make sense? I simply couldn’t believe it. Nor could I believe the third plot line which was revealed through a series of letters supposedly written by Isabella Gardner in the late 19th century.

Mysteries and thrillers are often based on unlikely scenarios. I’ve been known to buy into them and read non-stop ‘til dawn. I swallowed The DaVinci Code in one bite. But, Robert Landon is smart. He stays one step ahead of the bad guys. Claire Roth doesn’t even come close. This book did interest me in the Gardner Museum theft and in the lives of famous forgers. I think I’ll look for some nonfiction on those subjects.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Thanks for this. I've tripped over this title a few times, and have been mildly tempted. I'm glad to know I can continue to resist and get to others that are more tempting.

[Hahtoolah]

I rather enjoyed this book, but maybe because I lived around the corner from the Gardner Museum back in the 1980s.

[Jgrace]

Hahtoolah wrote: "I rather enjoyed this book, but maybe because I lived around the corner from the Gardner Museum back in the 1980s."
Details of the robbery are interesting, and I enjoyed learning about the art. I simply could not believe in the protagonist and/or her motivations. And there was nothing believable in the way she was placed to receive such well known and hot stolen goods.