Customer Reviews

The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft (Thorndike Crime Scene)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

It's hard to put this book down. Through a bit of serendipity, Ulrich Boser inherited a famed art detective's files on the Gardner Heist. He plunged into this mysterious case, and brings us along for the ride as he explores not only what happened, but why the artwork meant so much to so many both before and after the heist. As the author treads ever closer to cracking the case, you remember that this isn't fiction and start to believe he might get the paintings back - but you also wonder if he might find trouble in this shady underworld. A fascinating read.

Ulrich Boser's The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft combines several fascinating stories. It re-tells, virtually minute by minute, what is known of how this infamous 1990 art theft was staged. It relates a brief history of the museum's namesake, founder and benefactor, Isabella Gardner. It discusses the paintings that were ripped from the walls and their frames, including Vermeer's The Concert, Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Manet's Chez Tortoni (the photo section provides pictures of them). It examines the security in the museum then and now. It introduces us, through interviews with Boser, to Harold Smith, the most successful art detective of his day. It kicks around the leads and theories that the FBI, police, and private investigators have followed up in the years since the heist. It looks into the lives of some of the men who've been suspected of and investigated for the actual robbery and others who might have the paintings now. The suspects include several vicious members of the underworld, one of whom is currently serving forty years in prison for an unrelated crime, and another who has blotted the FBI's Most Wanted list for years.

The author explains how, after Smith's death (due to illness, not foul play), he, Boser, got caught up in trying to solve the mystery of the paintings and how they might be recovered. Smith had been devoting huge amounts of time to the case; his was a mission bordering on obsession. And he wasn't alone in the hunt. A five million dollar reward lured some, but for others the love of art kept them searching. Boser also caught the Gardner fever, even traveling to another country to scan little seaside villages, hoping to catch sight of the mob boss who might be living there incognito -- perhaps even with the paintings in his home. Eventually Boser realized this quest could get him killed. But before he stopped hunting down every lead, he'd gathered enough evidence to convincingly identify the probable thieves, and he presents it all in The Gardner Heist with journalistic factualism married to an accessible, conversational style.

The story of these missing masterpieces, quite possibly moldering away and perhaps even abandoned somewhere, is sad. But even though Boser's book can't have a storybook, feel-good, ending, anyone interested in the world of art (and crime) shouldn't miss The Gardner Heist.

This is a very good, well researched book about the story behind this theft. I don't live far from Boston and have visited the museum twice, once before the theft and once afterward. Everything you'd want to know about this topic is here - a brief history of Isabella Stewart Gardner, discussions about the background of each missing piece, details of the actual robbery, the on-going investigation. The crime hasn't been solved, so of course it's not going to have a happy ending and it's going to end abruptly. The only thing I didn't like was the endless speculation, and ensuing chapters dedicated to it, that the theft has ties to organized crime. But it does - it's no one's fault that the book lost my interest there. I emailed the author a question I had, and he kindly and pleasantly wrote me back shortly thereafter. For anyone interested in this genre, the book Museum of the Missing deals with stolen art, worldwide and throughout history - very good to read after you finish this.

There are only a few books about true events which keep you on the edge of your seat. "All the President's Men" was one. This book is another. Beautifully written, excitingly paced, with a fascinating subject, this author has either narrowed the search for the thieves or done great investigative work that may lead to their identification and/or prosecution. The various characters' love for the artwork itself is a strong motivating force.

This book started off well. It read like a novel in the beginning, and I found it very enjoyable. It did seem to go downhill, though, perhaps because the author's self-declared obsession with the heist turned into a weird madness. It became very speculative toward the end and not especially informative.

That being said, it's the most in-depth account of the heist that I have read to date, so I appreciated the book for that reason.

As I said to a friend who is interested in Boston crime, the book is worth reading, but not necessarily worth buying - if that makes sense.

Another reviewer of this book gave it four stars because he thought the ending was inconclusive - the paintings stolen in 1990 have never been found. Well, that is the fact, and if this book could only end with the recovery, then it wouldn't/couldn't have been written.

Boser writes a very readable tale of art, both purchased and stolen, and the personalities who came together - over a period of about 150 years - to make the Gardner heist the world's largest theft. He writes about the paintings and their provenance and how Isabella Stewart Gardner - an outsized personality - came to collect her art and put together her highly idiosyncratic museum. He writes about the search - ongoing for the past 20 years - to recover the masterpieces and the men and women, who were both victims and perpetrators of the crime.

I enjoyed the book.

I should have known better than to read this book. I did some minimal research on the topic prior to reading the book and I fault no one other than myself for making the mistake of reading this book anyway. False leads, conjecture and minimal insight into the heist is what the book is composed of.

The author finally giving up to spend time with his family, while admirable on a personal level, is an admission that his investigation and ultimately this book led nowhere and gave absolutely no additional insight compared to what one could get from a 3 minute search on Google.

The end of the book left me saying "that's IT"

This was not exciting, not informative and most of all a waste of my time and by his own admission and obsession by the author.

Don't bother.

The Gardner museum if of course fascinating, and the story behind the infamous robbery is one of the most amazing stories ever. Boser does a great job in discussing the little known facts of it and takes you on a wild chase looking for the criminals behind the greatest art heist. The only part that fell a little short for me was the ending, as it was abrupt and felt a little boring in comparison to the riveting beginning. If you'd like to know more about the Gardner heist and art thefts in general, I'd definitely read this book.

I enjoy mystery books and true crime books, and this has it all. Plus you learn a lot about how the art world works, at least on the museum side of things. The book is well-written and paced and has only one section I felt out of place (author writes about an imaginary encounter he has with the mastermind of the theft and imagines what he would say and ask). Even the sketchy, monotone pictures on my Kindle gave me some idea of the beauty of these so-far lost works (although of course I was easily able to augment these with quick Google-image searches). The author has a real novelist's knack for giving us such apt descriptions of how the characters he meets look, act, and talk. A strongly recommended read for those interested in art, mystery or true crime.

What's really amazing about this story is how few definitive facts there are about the actual crime. For a theft that is valued in the 100's of millions we know almost nothing.
In 1990, on the night of St. Patrick's two men dressed as police men gained access to the museum, tied up the guards, and took 13 paintings plus assorted artifacts from their displays. And that's about it.
Almost everything beyond that is speculation. Even what seem like basic questions like how did they gain access? Did the paintings ever leave the museum? Turn out to be hard to establish with 100% certainty. Did they trick their way in, or did they have an inside man? Did they bundle the stolen art out, or hide it in the museum grounds (granted, the later is very unlikely, but since nobody saw the paintings leave the grounds, it's a legitimate question).
This, of course, makes it a story ripe for an investigative book, and Boser has a ball with it. There are so many avenues to explore, and so many colorful characters who could have been involved that at times it seems like a Who's who of the Boston underworld: David Turner, Whitey Bulger, and the IRA all get given serious consideration as possibly being complicit in the crime or the stashing of the paintings.
I felt that despite the lack of any concrete evidence, Boser does a pretty good job and evaluating all the major suspects, and zeroing in on the most likely. His case against David Turner seemed pretty compelling to me: the robbery matches the MO he used for several other high profile robberies, and an eye witness who saw the robbers outside the museum fairly confidently ID's Turner as one of the men to Boser.
Apart from the whodunit aspect of the book, I really enjoyed the historical background on Boston, the museum, and especially on Isabella Gardner herself.