Customer Reviews

The Cezanne Chase

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I really wanted to like this book, but I found it hard to get through. The villains are identified early in the book, so the mystery element disappears. The characters are all so serious that there is no humor. I realize it is not a comedy, but a light moment here or there would make the characters seem human. What an unbelievably dreary collection of people. The technical elements seem to be correct if that is what you are looking for.

Thomas Swan's "The Cezanne Chase" was an average offering of intrigue surrounding the acid mutilation of four priceless self portraits rendered by the French impressionist Paul Cezanne.

The novel, in part, focuses on Edwin Llewellyn a wealthy New York bon vivant who serves as a trustee on museum boards. Llewellyn owns one of Cezanne's self portraits courtesy of an inheritance from his granfather who purchase the work from the artist's agent. He is shocked as well as all of those in the art world to learn of the destruction of 2 of Cezanne's paintings in London's National Gallery and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

These crimes are being perpetrated by story heavy, the Norwegian born, football player statured Peder Aukrust. Aukrust a psychopath with extensive backgrounds in both pharmacology and chemistry is acting at the behest of a wealthy purveyor of the arts. Using potions and solutions to dispatch both paintings and people standing in his way, Aukrust is acting to ostensibly drive up the value of the remaining works of Cezanne. Aukrust's cohort and sometimes lover, an attractive platinum blonde with a drug habit Astrid Haraldsen is gaining the trust of Llewellyn posing as an interior decorator. They have designs on Llewellyn's self portrait.

When a third Cezanne is destroyed at a wealthy private collector Alan Pinkster's gallery Scotland Yard's Art and Antiques Detective Chief Inspector Jack Oxby is summoned to investigate the crime wave. Along with the acid destruction of the Cezanne piece, the director of the gallery has been murdered, poisoned by the fumes of a rare noxious chemical solution.

The novel progresses with the further destruction of art work and attempts to steal other works against the backdrop of an unprecedented Cezanne exhibition scheduled for Aix-en-Provence, France.

Swan's effort lacks any major suspense as we figure that Oxby will prevail against the devious plan authored by Aukrust. The identity of the benefactor of Aukrust's plan is fairly obvious. Swan's conclusion to the tale is both abrupt and unsatisfying