Art Kills [Hardcover]

Eric Van Lustbader (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2002

Art is having a wild affair with murder in this breathtaking, inventive tale from the best-selling author of the exotic White Ninja and chilling Second Skin. Racing from the marbled precincts of New York's uptown museum scene to the fashionable galleries and lofts of Soho to a gated Mafia mansion on the platinum coast of Long Island, at top speed this Lustbader novella takes appraiser Tess Chase, a no-nonsense woman with a taste for martial as well as fine arts, in pursuit of a long-lost painting by the Renaissance master Raphael. It also entangles her in a case of deadly sibling rivalry between the heirs to the empire of the East Coast crime boss Rocco Bravanno as it divides Tess's loyalties between the handsome, charismatic Anthony and his stunning sister, Jackie, both of whom come by their lust for art and palate for murder naturally. Uncovering a web of conspiracy and shifting alliances, Tess strives both to rescue the painting from its abductors and to save the passionately unhappy Jackie from a miserable marriage to a man with betrayal in his blood. More than a Raphael is at stake in this murderous tale of envy and revenge. Only Tess has yet to learn who the real traitor is. And ignorance is not bliss.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tess Chase is into the arts fine and martial as the heroine of this slender, mildly diverting thriller, in which the allegedly genteel milieu of art dealing intersects with the sleazy world of a notorious New York crime family. When a car deliberately hits and kills Howard Lenz, "a dodgy little art dealer," on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue across from the (fictitious) Empire State Museum of Art, art consultant Tess witnesses the crime. She follows the man who steals Lenz's blood-stained briefcase and discovers it contains a Raphael that was only rumored to exist. The priceless painting is being fought over by warring factions of the Bravanno crime family, one led by the urbane, ruthless Richard Sanborne (who married Jacqueline Bravanno, a Mafia daughter), the other by Antony Bravanno, Jacqueline's estranged brother. Tess finds herself in the middle of a plot that's too complex to unfold seamlessly in a mere 80 pages. She's a great concept for a heroine an intelligent, sophisticated woman who's not afraid of violent confrontation but she remains a concept. Lustbader's attempts to render her humanity seem contrived (as does Tess's short, bittersweet romance with Jacqueline). Similarly, most of the minor characters, such as the Mafiosi lieutenants, are crude, familiar caricatures of their type. Though the prose is at times vivid, nothing is as fully developed as it should be, and the ending feels forced. The book reads as if it were a treatment for a movie, lacking the dramatic unity that would make it a truly satisfying short work. (Jan. 4)Forecast: With rights sold to Britain, France, Germany and Japan, as well as Lustbader's high name recognition, expect initial strong sales, but be prepared for a sudden falling off once readers realize this isn't up to the level of other titles in this quality novella series.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Review copies and press releases have been extensively mailed, including CRIM --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 87 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st edition (January 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708891
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708895
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,086,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eric Van Lustbader is the author of more than twenty-five best-selling novels, including The Ninja, a New York Times bestseller for 24 weeks, in which he introduced Nicholas Linnear, one of modern fictions most beloved and enduring heroes. His New York Times bestselling novel, "The Testament," was published in September, 2006 and in paperback in August, 2007.
His novels have been translated into over twenty languages; his books are best-sellers worldwide and are so popular whole sections of bookstores from Bangkok to Dublin are devoted to them. The Ninja was sold to 20th Century-Fox. It is now in pre-production.
Mr. Lustbader is a graduate of Columbia College, with a degree in Sociology. Before turning to writing full time, he enjoyed highly successful careers in the New York City public school system, where he holds licenses in both elementary and early childhood education, and in the music business. He is a second-level Reiki master.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars unbelievably bad, July 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Art Kills (Hardcover)

I can't imagine how such a thing could get printed. It is evidently a vehicle for portraying Lesbian love, with a few nods here and there to great art (brought in to validate the title, one presumes) plenty of four-letter words and allusions to The Mob, to make things move along. I checked the book out at my local library because of the quotations from reviews from "Kirkus Review," the "Los Angeles Times Book Review," etc. on the back cover, and all I can say is that the reviewers must have been describing some other book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ha Ouch Ha, September 30, 2006

By 

Peet (Philly, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Kills (Hardcover)

For the masochistic crowd out there, this is a great read! The most outrageously BAD waste of tree pulp I've come in mental contact with for quite some time- I felt like taking a brainwash after!. Don't let the title fool you like I did- there is NOTHING in this book about art... He does some name-dropping of "Oh, I know who he is!" artists and the main "character" (I put it in quotes so that you won't confuse it with a real characterization) is nominally a art appraiser/James Bond wannabe- we all know how many of THOSE are lurking out there in the world!
Oh yeah, besides the poor characterizations and the stereotyped mobsters, there is the MELODRAMA--- OH GOD!! THE MELODRAMA!! If you don't believe me, just read the opening paragraph on the "look inside this book" page. I could go on, but it's just too painful... let me just finish by saying that I challenged my wife to read this book without throwing it across the room and she failed. Thank god it was a library book and I didn't spend any loot on it- I'd rather boil my eyeballs in cod liver oil than contribute a cent to the royalties of the illustrious Lustbader.

1.0 out of 5 stars A Plot Skeleton Published Instead of the Finished Version?, October 18, 2004

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Art Kills (Hardcover)

This is an average skeleton outlining the plot of what may well be an enjoyable novel when the author gets round to writing it. Only problem is somehow this plot idea skeleton has been published as the actual finished novel when it clearly lacks substance. This plot outline is about an art expert who witnesses a colleague she doesn't much like get hit by a car. Someone steals his briefcase and she stupidly decides to tail the thief to an apartment and steal the briefcase for herself. Now not really explained proplerly in the story this woman was somehow set up to do just what she did and is taken at gunpoint to a mansion where she has to validate the painting inside the briefcase as a real priceless Raphael. Although the characters are not really explained in any depth the family in the mansion is at war with other parts of the extended family and she ends up out of the blue sleeping with the daughter of the owner of the house for no apparent reason other than the author probably has some lesbian bedroom fantasies he wants to put on paper. She has to somehow figure out how to get the Raphael into safe museum hands and survive.

This short story (it is only 80 less than half the size of A4 pages of above normal sized font) is like a primary school child's effort at writing a story. Well actually I'm sure they can do better. Out of the blue suddenly one character is interacting with another as if they've known each other all their lives with no explanation as to how they even know each other or character development at all. I won't waste my time or money on other poor literacy efforts by this author.