The Perfect Fake [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by Barbara Parker (Author) "Through the tinted windows, the Miami club district slid away-purple neon, stucco colonnades, people jamming the sidewalks..." (more)
Key Phrases: map thieves, map fair, map tube, Tom Fairchild, Stuart Barlowe, Leo Zurin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Parker's stand-alone thriller opens with a promising setup, but falls short of the author's best work, like Suspicion of Innocence, which was an Edgar finalist. Talented Miami artist Tom Fairchild, an ex-con, is struggling to stay on the good side of his rigorous probation officer, while helping out at his sister's antique shop. When his impressive imitation of a 16th-century map of Florida catches the eye of Stuart Barlowe, a wealthy local power player, at a map fair, Barlowe asks Fairchild to duplicate a rare Renaissance-period map that was ruined after it got stained with the blood of its murdered owner. Despite his distrust of this offer, the cash-short Fairchild is intrigued enough by the task's difficulty to accept it. A predictable romantic subplot adds little to the narrative as Fairchild dodges an array of unsavory characters in several European countries and the body count mounts. A surprise closing twist changes nothing. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
In a departure from her Gail Connor series, Parker writes an engrossing stand-alone thriller. Tom Fairchild is determined to get his life back in order after spending time in prison for theft. Now on parole, Tom, a would-be graphic artist, is working with his sister at her map shop in Miami. When real-estate developer Stuart Barlowe wants to hire Tom to make an exact copy of a Renaissance map, Tom sees a way of earning the money he needs to make restitution for his role in the theft. But does Barlowe really want a duplicate, or is he asking for a forgery? Either way, Tom agrees to being smuggled out of Florida to research the map in England and Italy. On the journey, romance is rekindled between Tom and his former girlfriend Allison, Barlowe's daughter. Naturally, there is much more to the map caper than meets the eye, and soon enough Tom and Allison are in the middle of it. Parker's villains are stereotypes, but Tom and Allison make a sympathetic couple on the run, and the cartography frame story is fresh and compelling. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (December 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525949860
• ASIN: B000RO9ZSM
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,189,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a good read!, January 10, 2007

By	C. Schorr "Reader, I married him." (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Perfect Fake (Hardcover)

I own all of Barbara Parker's book -- at first I was a little disapointed to find this one a stand-alone. Well, until I started to read it. Then I was captivated by Tom Fairchild's dilemma -- can he create the "perfect fake?" I liked the multiple settings -- Miami, London, Italy; the clever ways in which quite a number of plot lines are resolved,the intelligence of the characters (the Weasel excepted -- I really hated him), and my introduction to the fascinating world of antique maps and their collectors. Perhpas the characters are not as richly complicated as those in Parker's "Suspicion of" series, but a really good caper (as this is) should, I think, command a willing suspension of disbelief -- The Perfect Fake is a delightful read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "My whole life is a lie.", December 30, 2006

By	E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Perfect Fake (Hardcover)

Barbara Parker's "The Perfect Fake" opens with the brutal killing of Carla, a Miami prostitute, by a vicious brute named Marek. The author then introduces ex-con Tom Fairchild, who has been unable to stay out of trouble since he was thirteen. He has a juvenile record for shoplifting and smoking marijuana, and these offenses led to a stay in a residential facility. He is on probation for burglary after spending a year in the county lockup. If he violates the terms of his parole, he is looking at a stint in state prison. Unfortunately, Tom's probation officer, George (the Weasel) Weems, detests him, and will gladly have Tom sent away for the most minor infraction.

Tom has been trying to make ends meet as a freelance graphic designer and he also assists his sister, Rose, in her antique map shop, "The Compass Rose." Tom's grandfather, William Fairchild, founded the store; a love of old maps is in the Fairchilds' DNA. Tom frequently asks Rose for loans. Even though she is a single mother with quite a few expenses of her own, she always comes through for him.

The heroine is thirty-two year old Allison Barlowe, a lawyer who has yet to take the Florida bar exam. She has a rocky relationship with her wealthy father, Stuart, and an antagonistic one with her stepmother, Rhonda. Her stepbrother, Rhonda's son, Larry Gerard, is a venal and corrupt businessman with some shady associates. One of Larry's cronies is the aforementioned Marek Vuksinic; he is a violent and malevolent sociopath.

Tom and Allison once had an intimate relationship, and they are about to be reunited. What brings them together is a rare Renaissance map created by an Italian cartographer named Gaetano Corelli. After this valuable map is irreparably damaged, Stuart Barlowe hires Tom Fairchild to forge a new one that would be indistinguishable from the original. Tom undertakes the painstaking task with the help of his friend, Eddie, and Allison goes along to keep an eye on the work in progress. The map, it turns out, is more than just a valuable antique; it is a matter of life and death.

Parker's thriller is set in various locales including London and Italy. The author gives the exotic settings their due, and they add to the book's atmosphere. As the convoluted plot unfolds, it turns out that along with the rare map, there are other important matters pending: a multi-million dollar real estate deal, a smuggling operation, and even a potential political coup in a South American country.

Unfortunately, "The Perfect Fake" moves in too many far-flung directions, and it falls apart by the time Parker produces the obligatory twists and turns that mark the story's pat and rushed conclusion. The characters are mildly appealing, but they are sketchily drawn, and the dialogue is stilted and artificial. Parker has done fairly well with her series books in the past, but this stand-alone is at best, a pedestrian effort.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of The Perfect Fake by Barbara Parker, August 31, 2007

By	Patricia A. Straat (Sykesville, Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Perfect Fake (Hardcover)

A good read, a good mystery that moves right along. Unique in introducing the reader to the world of antique maps and map collecting.