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ART KILLS
by Eric Van Lustbader
Carroll & Graf, January 2002
87 pages
$12.95
ISBN: 0786708891


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Eric Van Lustbader publishes this 87-page novella all by itself and that was a big mistake. Art Kills should have been part of an anthology or collection of short stories because it makes no impact on its own.

Tess Chase works at New York's Empire State Museum of Art checking out clever forgeries among other things that might benefit the museum. While eating lunch outside she notices Howard Lenz, a disreputable art dealer, leaving the museum with a suspicious package. She decides to follow him and witnesses him being a victim of a hit-and-run.

While the crowds start to gather she notices someone surreptitiously taking the package away from the accident scene. Again Tess decides to follow him to a vacant apartment. In there she sees a shooting and manages to escape with the parcel by using her martial arts training. When she is back at her apartment she studies the packet and discovers an unknown work by a painting grandmaster. Thirty seconds later there is a knock at her door from someone who wants the painting back. Before the story Is over Tess will be involved in the middle of a family feud involving one of New Yorkís biggest crime family.

The main problem with this book is that the author compresses too much action in too little plot taking away the enjoyment of the book. Tess involvement in the caper makes little sense and the crooks knew that she was going to be involved since before she had her lunch. The plan must have taken a lot of planning but it relies too much on serendipity and coincidence. The author even gives Tess time for a lengthy and erotic sexual encounter. This novel would have been much better had he spent more time developing Ms. Chase as a character and more plot structuring. The author could have written a supplemental story line and he could have relied on flashbacks. My definition of a novella is a very short novel or very long story. It fails in both terms.

Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, October 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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