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annieb123's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this early offering from Aaron Elkins. Murder mysteries set in the rarefied and usually placid art/music/literature world appeal to me especially. This one was no exception and I found myself moved to begin the second book in the series immediately after finishing the first. I engaged with Dr. Norgren immediately and the plotting and writing kept me interested.
The addition of Nazi 'liberated' priceless artwork and the meticulous background information and research were a nice bonus. I found a number of hitherto unknown-to-me artists to follow up on.
All in all a good solid entertaining mystery.
The addition of Nazi 'liberated' priceless artwork and the meticulous background information and research were a nice bonus. I found a number of hitherto unknown-to-me artists to follow up on.
All in all a good solid entertaining mystery.
bespectacled's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
mazza57's review against another edition
2.0
This book was an easy enough read but just took too long to get going and concentrated on unnecessary detail to the detriment of creating mystery and suspense
fjp11907's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
robinwalter's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A better start than his Gideon series, the art history stuff was really interesting. Good enough to secure book 2 a try.
psalmcat's review against another edition
4.0
It is interesting reading an author's earliest works, especially in genre fiction. You can watch as he (or she) develops as an author, fleshing out cardboard characters as he goes, making rounded edges of abrupt plot changes.
This is especially true in this book, in which Elkins introduced a new character, an art historian named Chris Norgren. I didn't read the blurb, so I jumped into Chapter 1 expecting my friend "The Skeleton Doctor" and couldn't figure out why we were in an art museum with a bunch of unknowns. In a mystery, that usually means the reader is getting some inside information about the bad guys. But wait: it also shows a certain level of sophistication I hadn't expected of Elkins at this point. So I caved in and read the blurb.
Having just read the first "Skeleton" mystery recently, I could see some extremely obvious similarities in the two books: Europe, Army base, shlubby detective with a great sense of humor, a hero with fighting skills that are outrageously unexpected. The plots are similar too.
But it's a good plot, even if those corners are very rounded yet, and the characters tend to be cardboard figures placed hither and yon for decor. There's a lot of info about art and art history here, and that kept my attention. I didn't know anything about Vermeer or El Greco beyond being able to tell them apart (!); I still don't know much, but the details showed that Elkins has promise...which is proven out by the knowledge of his later novels.
This is especially true in this book, in which Elkins introduced a new character, an art historian named Chris Norgren. I didn't read the blurb, so I jumped into Chapter 1 expecting my friend "The Skeleton Doctor" and couldn't figure out why we were in an art museum with a bunch of unknowns. In a mystery, that usually means the reader is getting some inside information about the bad guys. But wait: it also shows a certain level of sophistication I hadn't expected of Elkins at this point. So I caved in and read the blurb.
Having just read the first "Skeleton" mystery recently, I could see some extremely obvious similarities in the two books: Europe, Army base, shlubby detective with a great sense of humor, a hero with fighting skills that are outrageously unexpected. The plots are similar too.
But it's a good plot, even if those corners are very rounded yet, and the characters tend to be cardboard figures placed hither and yon for decor. There's a lot of info about art and art history here, and that kept my attention. I didn't know anything about Vermeer or El Greco beyond being able to tell them apart (!); I still don't know much, but the details showed that Elkins has promise...which is proven out by the knowledge of his later novels.
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