The Art of Murder [Paperback]

Jose Carlos Somoza (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005

Welcome to an art scene where realism has reached a new level, where each painting is literally alive, where the model is the canvas. And for the gorgeous men and women lining up for the privilege—to be painted and posed, bought and rented by collectors—there is one artist to whom they are all drawn: the Dutch master, Bruno van Tysch. A young female model is brutally murdered, and the detectives assigned to the case may have little interest in modern art, but they’re going to have to acquire an appreciation quickly. Van Tysch is about to launch a major exhibition in Amsterdam—the imitation of 13 of Rembrandt’s masterpieces—and rumors are that the killer is about to strike again.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Madrid novelist Somoza's latest thriller to appear in the U.S. (it was originally published in Spain in 2001) concerns a young girl who is found murdered and two police detectives who must find the killer before he strikes again. But it's the world of the novel that captures our interest, not the whodunit aspect. The action takes place in the bizarre subculture of hyperdramatic art, in which the works of art are actual, living people, painted and posed like living mannequins. It is a world in which 14-year-old girls (like the murder victim) can be sold to collectors, not as people but as artworks. And sold for a lot of money, too. It's a fascinating and certainly disquieting underworld, and readers are drawn deep into it by Somoza's stylish prose (nicely translated by Caistor). Fans of mysteries in which the setting takes precedence over the story should be steered toward this one. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Fans of mysteries in which the setting takes precedence over the story should be steered toward this one.” -- Booklist

“It’s a fascinating and certainly disquieting underworld, and readers are drawn deep into it by Somoza’s stylish prose.” -- Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0349118833
• ISBN-13: 978-0349118833
• Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Caribbean

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, May 13, 2005

By 

Helios - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art of Murder C (Hardcover)

I doubt there are many authors in the world today with the imagination & creativity of Somoza.

Even though the concepts were slightly weird at the start, they soon became utterly engrossing. The author does an amazing job creating & developing backgrounds and characters.

Highlighting the fact that it's not a traditional "murder mystery" and that the ending is somewhat predictable is simply missing the point.

Every young, aspiring writer should read this. Easily 5 stars.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read, August 31, 2007

By 

celyn (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Murder (Paperback)

I found this to be a thoroughly entertaining, provocative, intelligent book. One of my litmus tests is: would you read it again? And I have, perhaps three or four times. I always find something new in it. I am actually staggered that this book is not more well-known!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art of Murder, July 22, 2009

By 

bumuling (GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Murder (Paperback)

The subculture Somoza has created here is fascinating, strange and somewhat fetishistic. The investigators are not police detectives, but administrators in charge of security for the artistic genius Bruno Van Tysch, whose human "paintings" have been targeted by a killer.

The story moves between the politics behind the investigation (not the police procedures but behind-the-scenes power struggles among different branches of Van Tysch's organization, and lots of talk about the money at stake if his priceless works are damaged or lost) and the experience of one human "canvas" as she is stretched, primed, sketched, and otherwise prepared to become a master work.

Much of the novel is taken up with that process, and with the controversies surrounding humans-as-art. The investigators cannot even agree as to whether the torture and murder of one of Van Tysch's paintings was "sadistic"-- was she, after all, human, or only a canvas?

Absorbing, complex, a great read.