Customer Reviews

The Genius

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

THE GENIUS is a very impressive effort by Jesse Kellerman. This book is a highly effective suspense novel, but the quality of the prose is strong enough to satisfy most fans of literary fiction. I read a lot of suspense fiction, and this is one of the best novels I've read this year.

The main character of THE GENIUS is a young, struggling art dealer named Ethan Muller. The novel opens with Muller discovering a large trove of artwork by an unknown, reclusive genius named Victor Cracke. Cracke has disappeared mysteriously, and Muller ends up taking the artwork for himself and his gallery. He mounts a successful show of the artwork, only to discover that Cracke has a hidden, dangerous past -- a past which may involve Muller himself.

THE GENIUS is very well-writen, a genuine literary thriller. Kellerman has matured into a really effective writer, and he does a superb job describing the New York contemporary art scene. All the characterization in this book is first-rate, and the dialogue is sharp and fun. The plot is also gripping, and I kept turning the pages, always interested in what was about to happen next.

The protagonist of this book isn't entirely entirely likable, which may turn off some readers. But if you enjoy the complex characterization of authors like Colin Harrison or Laura Lippman, you will find much to admire in THE GENIUS.

I wasn't a fan of Kellerman's listless first novel, SUNSTROKE, but this novel has converted me. If Kellerman can write novels like THE GENIUS before the age of 30, I can't wait to see what he will be producing over the next decade, as his talent matures even further.

Highly recommended.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I wasn't terribly impressed by Kellerman's debut novel Sunburn and I really disliked his sophomore effort Trouble. Kellerman's third novel is ambitious. I especially appreciate that it deviates from conventional crime novel formulas. In fact, the solving of a series of 40 year old child murders is secondary. The Genius, first and foremost, is a family saga. At its heart, it's the story of a cold and distant father trying to reconnect with his estranged son.

The catch is that readers who expect action, suspense, and page turning thrills may be disappointed. I admire the fact that Kellerman doesn't make criminal investigation exciting. It's tedious work. There is no `big shoot out' or car chase to pump up the reader's adrenaline. Instead, evidence is collected, an arrest is made. It's pretty routine stuff - just like real life.

Kellerman does a good job with character development. As mentioned before, this is really a character driven family saga, not a plot driven thriller. I admire that Kellerman doesn't feel compelled to make his characters especially likeable. Ethan, our hero, is actually a pretentious self absorbed (insert your own expletive here); certainly not the type of character that an author can build a franchise around. I didn't hate Ethan, but he did grate on my nerves from time to time (notably when he makes a rather whiny phone call to an Assistant DA). The characters in this novel are fully realized imperfect human beings. Unfortunately, they can be a little annoying at times.

Kellerman sets up an intriguing premise (a collection of drawings are discovered in a vacant apartment and when some of the drawings are displayed in a gallery, it is discovered that the drawings include the faces of five murdered children) but by its mid point, the novel starts to lose some of its momentum. From a suspense novel perspective, the novel plods along rather predictably and then resolves itself in rather anticlimactic fashion. While on some level this is admirable, it isn't fully satisfying as entertainment. The family saga portions of the novel (the so-called interludes) are moderately compelling, but not strong enough to raise the novel above a sturdy 3 star rating from me.

I appreciate the effort Kellerman has made with this novel. I suspect that the author may transition soon out of genre fiction as he seems much more interested in exploring characters than building suspense. Definitely his best novel to date. I'd like to see him create a character that doesn't irritate me though.

A successful young NYC art dealer named Ethan Muller discovers a vast series of bizarre drawings in an abandoned apartment in Queens, and the unknown genius who created them quickly becomes the toast of the contemporary art world. But Ethan soon has cause for alarm--a retired cop sees one of the drawings in the newspaper and recognizes the little boy in it as a long-ago victim of a serial killer who was never caught. Could the phantom artist and the phantom murderer be one and the same? Ethan Muller is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. And someone else is just as determined to keep the secret buried....

THE GENIUS is a terrific suspense novel from one of our brightest new talents. Kellerman, son of bestselling authors Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, is 'a chip off the old block' and then some. His story is colorful, his setting (the New York art world) is vividly rendered, and his characters are sharply drawn and memorable. In other words, the book is very much like the brilliant series of drawings at the center of its plot. Don't miss this one. Highly recommended.

I attended a book signing with Kellerman when this book was introduced. I had not read his prior books
so it was only by chance that I stopped into the bookstore and Jesse Kellerman was there. He was speaking
to the assembled customers about how he was inspired by the Henry Darger case, so I do not think he makes any apologies for that inspiration, but his take on the story is totally different.

Unlike the works of Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman, who have common characters re-appearing in subsequent novels, Jess Kellerman's main character is more or less the common man who has a very strange experience - then goes back to being a common man, all the wiser.

Not that Ethan Mueller is actually all that common, being the son of a very wealthy man, but he isn't a detective or had any experience with solving a crime.

The story almost reads like a script. Lots of dialog and it drew me into the story immediately. There is so much going on that as I approached the end, I was afraid all the loose ends would not be tied up in the remaining pages. Don't you just hate reading a great book and then it bombs at the end?

"The Genius" doesn't let you down. To the last word, I enjoyed not only the story and the pace but the word selections like getting up from a taxi seat as "pulling away from sticky vinyl" The pace is good, the story is very interesting and I finished reading feeling like it was a very good read.

I am not sure I will read Kellerman's earlier books, since this one was very satisfying and I do think he is probably getting better and better. He mentioned that his publisher wants a book every 12 months, so I will wait for the next one.

Fascinating to hear about how Jesse Kellerman approaches his work. A very bright, disciplined young man - very approachable, and not at all a self-important person. A lot like the humble character in his book.

I am giving this my highest rating because I liked this book...

..and so many best sellers deserve less.

I was engrossed by this novel from beginning to end, and found it one of the more credible mysteries I've read in a while. There are several related mysteries in the book: Did the artist kill the children? Where did he disappear to? Why does Ethan's father want to buy all the drawings? What's behind the estrangement between Ethan and his father?

The answers to all these are quite satisfactory, but the novel takes its time uncovering them. Much of the novel deals with Ethan re-examining his life.

There are no chases and shootouts, no sense of danger, no immediacy to the solution. Nobody's life hangs in the balance as the seconds tick away. If these are the elements you want you're likely to be disappointed. But if you'd like a mystery that unfolds over several generations in a richly textured and populated setting, give this a try.

Well-crafted, atmospheric thriller. Although, as others have mentioned, many of the characters are not completely likeable, this does not detract from the book or the plot; rather, it is reality seeping through. Vivid and realistic portrayal of the art world. Well-plotted and hard to put down. I've recommended this one to everyone I know. Kellerman is turning into an excellent writer and has already outdone his father, dare I say it?!

Jesse Kellerman's bibliography does not run long --- THE GENIUS is his third novel --- but his talent runs deep. There were hints of it in SUNSTROKE and fulfillment of the promise in TROUBLE. But THE GENIUS takes you places you haven't been before, at least not often. The book has elements of genre fiction --- be it mystery, thriller and suspense --- but, as narrator Ethan Muller hastens to tell us at the beginning of this astounding work, it might be a detective story, though he is no detective. He is dogged, however, and sometimes --- as in THE GENIUS --- that is enough.

Muller is hardly born to the role of gumshoe, amateur or otherwise. The estranged son of a third-generation industrialist, Muller is a flavor of the month dealer in contemporary art who literally stumbles into a treasure trove of which most of his peers only dream. A reclusive, secretive slum dweller named Victor Cracke has disappeared from his tenement apartment, leaving behind an incredible and breathtaking cache of his artwork. Cracke's work --- a series of interconnecting drawings that seem to document a world more real than our own --- is brilliant, and Muller recognizes it as same. He tries, halfheartedly at best, to locate Cracke, but the man seems to have vanished into thin air. Muller nonetheless has a showing of Cracke's work, and both of their names are on everyone's lips, with Muller's reputation, at least for the moment, assured.

Things take an interesting turn, however, when a newspaper article concerning Muller's gallery, with a reproduction of Cracke's work, attracts the attention of Lee McGrath, a retired and terminally ill homicide cop. One of Cracke's illustrations demonstrates a familiarity with the victim of one of McGrath's unsolved cases. McGrath contacts Muller, who develops a slow but strong attraction toward McGrath's daughter Samantha, a quietly complex woman with the New York District Attorney's office. Muller, somewhat self-absorbed at the beginning of THE GENIUS, becomes obsessed with finding Cracke, and perhaps obtaining not only some long-overdue justice for a murder victim, but also some closure for McGrath.

Yes, this sounds like a mystery novel. But THE GENIUS only begins here. Its true story, like the best of any genre fiction, is about the people involved, with the ultimate barometer being the degree to which the reader cares about them. And you will care plenty. You will want --- ache for --- Muller and Samantha to, however improbably, get together; for McGrath to solve his last case; for the true story of Cracke to be revealed, whether for good or for ill. You'll get some of those things, and maybe all of them, to varying degrees, as well as an ending that will bring tears to your eyes. But what ultimately makes it a fabulous work is the backstory that Kellerman parcels out in time-release sections, so that even if you think you have it all figured out, you won't know it all. Not until the very end, in any event.

With THE GENIUS, Kellerman attains --- however prematurely --- master status in his chosen craft. The frightening thing is, as wonderful as the novel is, I have a feeling that we have yet to see this man's best work.

THE GENIUS is definitely the best of the three books Jesse Kellerman has published. SUNSTROKE was quite mediocre and it is doubtful it would have been published or received any publicity without the influence of the author's successful mystery writing parents. The second novel, TROUBLE, was both repulsive and unbelievable. This third effort, THE GENIUS, has portions that are excellently written and plotted but others that are just plain clunky making for a very uneven reading experience.

Ethan, the narrator of most of the storyline is a self admitted narcissist. The spoiled motherless son of a rich and famous father he is a bit past thirty and making his way as a Manhattan art dealer. Estranged from his wealthy father he is romantically involved with a much older player in the art world who he also owes for much of his career success. The plot hinges on a large quantity of "outsider" art that is discovered abandoned in one of Ethan's father's many apartment complexes. Ethan mounts a successful display of the work of this mysterious unknown artist and the suspense heats up when some of the characters depicted in the art turn out to be victims in child abduction/rape cases from years before. From there out Ethan becomes involved in finding both the artist and the connection to the dead children.

The book has some often used mystery conventions including the retired, dying police detective who never gave up on that one unsolved case. Conveniently, said detective has a cute district attorney daughter who helps Ethan find the solutions as well as adding some romantic interest. Kellerman interrupts the main storyline with several "interludes" that serve to tell us Ethan's family history. These interludes begin with the first of his family to journey to America from Europe in the 1840's and finally end with the revelation of the relationships between Ethan, the mystery artist, and the murderer. There are additionally a few poorly rendered subplots leaving an overall impression of a book that has some interesting elements but is too unfocused and would have benefited greatly from the help of a wise editor.

It's been a long time since I picked up a book at semi-random and fell in love with an author. My reading time is extremely limited; I'm always picking up only "sure things" by Dan Simmons, Neal Stephenson, Richard K. Morgan and the like. However, with a long flight ahead of me and needing the assurance of a book in reserve, I picked up Jesse Kellerman's The Genius at the airport. It took about two pages to hook me.

On Wednesday the NYPD sent two men over to the house. These were not the same two I'd met in the hospital--at least as far as I could remember, which wasn't very far--but detectives from the major case squad who specialized in art theft. Immediately, I flagged them as rather an odd couple. Phil Trueg was all belly; his garish Jerry Garcia print tie stood out like an abdominal Mohawk. He had a strong Brooklyn accent and a tendency to laugh at his own jokes, which came fast and furious. His partner, on the other hand, was ten years younger, taut and tan and reserved, his outfit likewise muted, khaki bleeding into itself. His name was Andrade, although Trueg told me to call him Benny, an instruction I decided to disregard.
- Jesse Kellerman, The Genius

Kellerman, as progeny of novelist Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, is living proof of the genetic adage about apples and trees, but a fine, delicious apple he is. No question, I gotta get the rest of his stuff.
Ken Coffman is the author of Steel Waters, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Hartz String Theory and other novels.

Genes (and genealogy) apparently play a vital role both in the writing of this novel, as well as in the plot itself. The author, the son of two well established writers, obviously has inherited his talent from his parents with the same surname. His previous two novels were outstanding, and the present contribution is no less, although I must admit there were a few touches which this reader could have done without. While hardly detracting from the novel, these asides--while deliberately used as a device--seemed worthy of a writer of lesser skills.

As for the plot, genes and family history play an important role. Ethan Muller, the wayward son of an extremely wealthy New York family, reminiscent of the Trumps or LeFraks, becomes a fairly successful art dealer after having led a wastrel life for slightly more than a couple of decades. He resents and is estranged from his father, but seems to be quite close to his right-hand man, Tony Wexler. In any event, one day, Tony summons him to a rather seedy housing project in Queens owned (among many other things) by the family and shows him thousands of drawings in an apparently abandoned apartment. Ethan goes "ga-ga" over the drawings and plans a showing.

The exhibition creates a furor, and the drawings attract extremely high bids. A retired detective notices a reprint, and one of the subjects resembles a murdered 10-year-old killed and raped years before. This sets Ethan off on an ambivalent journey. He considered the thousands of drawings high art, but are they the product of a murderer? He has to learn more about the artist, but clues are few and far between. It becomes an obsession--a quest for the truth.

It is a well-crafted study, worthy of the masters of the genre. While ostensibly a mystery, it is a family saga par excellence. It is an unusual and intriguing plot, filled with well-drawn characters. Except for the above-noted reservation, this standalone is a worthy successor to the author's initial two efforts, making for a hat trick. Now we await the next novel with baited breath. Highly recommended.