The Art of Breaking Glass: A Thriller [Hardcover]

Matthew Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

When psychiatric nurse Sharon Blautner inadvertently helps patient Bill Kaiser escape from New York's Bellevue Hospital, she is torn between stopping him and allowing the modern day Robin Hood to continue his twisted efforts on behalf of the city's powerless. 200,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The odd couple at the heart of this extremely impressive first thriller--a psychotic genius and a sensitive, scarred psychiatric nurse--have already led to the inevitable comparisons to The Silence of the Lambs. But Bill Kaiser is no Hannibal Lector: he uses his formidable physical and mental skills for a good cause, the preservation of historic buildings. And Sharon Blautner doesn't go up against Kaiser to further her career, like FBI agent Clarice Starling: she's already lost her job because of an act of kindness toward Bill, and seems to genuinely care for him. What's also amazing is how much author Matthew Hall knows and communicates about everything from how to fake mental illness to the way painters create their works.

From Library Journal

Wealthy entrepreneur Edward Mackinnon wants to purchase a prestigious New York City building and transform it into the first private, for-profit prison. The fact that it will displace hundreds of New York City's lower-middle-class citizens and destroy a community is not his concern. Enter Bill Kaiser, a brilliant, charming psychotic with his own idea of justice. After planting a bomb in one of the developer's apartments, Bill mutilates himself in an attempt to avoid arrest, which lands him in a psychiatric hospital. There he meets Sharon Blauntner, a psychiatric nurse who reveals to Bill her secrets and desire for vengeance. Bill incorporates Sharon into a repertoire of worthy causes and imagines a nonexistant relationship between them. Hale's novel is an enthralling, action-filled story of a killer's twisted conception of love and justice. Highly recommended for most libraries.?Georgia Panos, Johnson Cty. Lib. System, Leawood, Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T); 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316339245
• ISBN-13: 978-0316339247
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,995,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vigilantism at its best, January 28, 2000

By 

bard_girl (oh, around) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Breaking Glass: A Thriller (Hardcover)

I think if Bill resembles any literary character it is Hamlet (or perhaps the less well known Stainless Steel Rat). He is dark and tormented, and he has issues with his mother. But what makes this book exceptional is Bill's committed (no pun intended) liberalism. He us a crazy man fighting the good fight. That, coupled with his undeniable brilliance, is what ultimately makes him so likeable. And you may finish the book, like I did, with an urge to engage in some creative social justice yourself. I've read this book three times, and I could read it again tomorrow. Buy it now, you won't be able to stop reading once you start. And, if you can afford it, buy the hardcover. The jacket and cover design are really snazzy.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As beautifully crafted as it is gripping..., August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Breaking Glass (Mass Market Paperback)

When I got this book, I immediately read it twice. Once, within 48 hours, because the suspense was killing me. A second time to relish the writing and characterization. I don't make it through most mysteries even once -- after I've unraveled the plot, the writing often isn't good enough to hold my interest . How rare to find a mystery like this which can tether one to the plot with a strong thread of suspense, yet pleasure one with the deliberate nature and freshness of the writing.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the moral complexity of the characters. Too many books have the clearly evil and the clearly good. In my experience we all have a few blemishes to our souls, a few dings in our characters, and an inconsistency or two in our ethics. This book steps out of a world where characters are as flat and two-dimensional as a soap opera heroine, and into a world where people are as intriguing, mystifying, and unpredictable as they really are in life. Here are people who walk hand-in-hand not just with the companions of their days but with the ghosts and demons of their own pasts and with the shadow side of their own natures.

We are introduced to Bill, a Robin Hood of sorts, an activist for the rich history and community and thriving life of the urban landscape -- at the same time in which he is psychotic killer, an evil genius, inflicting his peculiar notions of justice on people and property as well. In Bill's case, he has an almost terrifying consistency in his ethics. (I can't tell you to how many people I've read the violence-against-women vengeance sequence in the book, and how many of them copped to having similar fantasies.)

Sharon, our heroine, is torn between her own ethics, and those she shares with Bill. She is more effective at solving puzzles than most of the detectives she encounters -- even as she clings to her own mental equilibrium with an at times very tentative hold. Sharon -- along with a third character, Eric -- are engaging as decent people trying to deal compassionately and appropriately with an insane world.

It was delightful to find a mystery in which the ethical questions and the characters were as gripping as the plot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pure awe, January 24, 2006

By 

S. Pocky - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Breaking Glass: A Thriller (Hardcover)

this story really dove into the depth of every character... making them realistic with indepth backgrounds. The characteristics are realistic along with the many detailed chemicals in the story. As the cover says it definately is a thriller... and though the relationship between the two main characters was ment to be similar to that of haniball and clarice it was extremely different. A good different... and amazing different. You certainly are hooked to the story the whole way through. I would suggest this story to anyone who likes thrillers mysteries... the word usage and style is truely beautiful and you can tell how much time was spent on retrieving details and accuracy...