|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
This is going to be one of those reviews -- one where I admit to having problems with the book, but think that you ought to try it because the author is clearly talented, and there's a lot to like in this first mystery. If you can bypass some of my misgivings, you'll enjoy what you read. Hailey Lind sets up a fairly good premise. From her own not-very-legit background as a talented forgery, Annie Kincaid has turned around her skill in creating faux surfaces, working with San Franciscans who want marble and mahogany and old stuff without necessarily paying old stuff prices. Her skills however, include a talent for knowing phony art when she sees it, so when ex-boyfriend and current museum bigwig Ernst asks her to look at the Caravaggio that the Brock Museum acquired for $15 million, she meets him late one night. The next thing she knows, the security guard at the museum is killed and Ernst has completely disappeared. And the painting? Well, she knows a little too much about it -- it's fake and she's sure she knows who created the brilliant forgery. I'm interested in fakes and forgeries (just before reading FEINT OF ART, I finished a book about the disappearance of Munch's Scream in 1994) and I have a real weakness for books set in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lind does a very credible and just downright good job covering Napa County, where Annie travels to follow a lead, as well as the trendy and wealthy parts of San Francisco, and parts of Oakland, where Annie lives -- and where she might move her studio if the new landlord really doubles the rent. Annie's got friends -- good real friends -- and while she's in the art world, she's not exactly of it. She dresses in black but she's not easily impressed by the snobbery and fakeness of that world. The action is fast, almost too fast at times -- towards the end I lost track of some of what was going on, but that was probably my problem. I could not keep track of everyone, which leads me to the reason I can't wholeheartedly endorse this book. I didn't like Annie Kincaid. She's too ditsy for me. While I understand some of her behavior -- working as a forger of fine art makes you a little, what, leery of the truth -- but there were too many times when she lied for no apparent reason. She's just not my kind of person and she bugged me. Annie's need to give everyone a nickname confused me, especially when she'd switch between their true name and her goofy name for them. There were some things she seemed very smart about and then at times she'd lose me with nattering about someone's middle name. She was too pushy for no apparent reason and jumped to far too many conclusions. I'm probably way too judgmental and she'll easily appeal to most readers who have more tolerance and patience. Annie's a good friend, she's got talent, she is clearly competent enough to have a business and skills to run it but she just bugged me. But I'm the first to admit I'm more easily bugged than the average bear.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, February 2006
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
