Susan Daitch

I received a free advance e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I like murder mysteries but this book didn’t trip my trigger. I found my mind wandering as I read. I did find the info about repairing painted masterpieces and different types of paints and how they were used very interesting. The story was confusing and hard to follow. The story lines didn’t mesh well and there seemed to be too many characters none of which were developed fully. It seemed like it took me forever to finish the book. This was a disheartening read.… (lisätietoja)

Don’t call Stella Da Silva an art restorer. She’s a conservator. Instead of adding to a painting, she painstakingly cleans & mends to preserve whats already there. She was lucky to get her job at the Claiborne Auction House & spends her nights working in solitude.
Despite her inexperience, she’s given the chance to work on a famous painting by Velazquez that has been secretly shipped to New York for restoration. To say things don’t go as planned is an understatement. Her first night on the job ends with a dead body, a stolen painting & Stella on the run for her life.

It’s a great premise for an exciting tale & begins well enough. Unfortunately, the story becomes lost in a sea of characters, numerous convoluted subplots, an abundance of technical details about paint & the MC’s tendency for long streams of internal monologue in the middle of a scene.

Stella is a normal woman with a largely unremarkable background & that’s not a bad thing. But there were several things that kept me from connecting with & more importantly, believing in her character. Suffice to say her safe, quiet life is completely trashed by the fallout from the missing painting. She is in mortal danger because she can identify one of the men responsible for the carnage & he knows it. Yet, she has an oddly flat affect when it comes to situations that qualify as full on WTF moments & repeatedly makes decisions the average person would consider suicidal. Add to that a superhero-like ability to survive numerous attacks (plus she knows how to hit someone to cause “just enough head damage to make him lose consciousness”) & I’m afraid the last kernel of credibility quickly exits the stage.

There is a large cast of characters who are all self absorbed by their personal plights & not particularly likeable. The exception is Calvin, the night janitor at the auction house who befriends Stella. A couple of potential love interests pop up but there is little chemistry as both are snugly wrapped up in their own dramas.

A great deal of time & space is devoted to the history & science of paint. Although this tends to freeze action & slow the pace, I have to give the author credit. It’s obvious she did a tremendous amount of research on the subject & knows her stuff.

I really wanted to like this book as it combined 2 things I love, a puzzling murder mystery & art. In the end, it was just too over the top. A pared down story line, fewer subplots, more character development & a believable heroine would have helped me enjoy this more than I did. But hey…that’s just my $0.02.

Recommended for: fans of “Die Hard”… (lisätietoja)