Books: The Brutal Art, by Jonathan Kellerman

A perfect choice for a pool-side read or a lazy weekend, The Brutal Art is a compelling and absorbing thriller by the son of two of America’s most successful writers, Jonathan and Faye Kellerman.

Jesse Kellerman has inherited all of his parents’ ability and added some of his own to create a thriller with depth, which flips between the twenty-first and nineteenth centuries as the threads of the novel draw slowly together. 

New York art dealer Ethan Muller is given a cache of brilliant and original paintings left behind by one of his father’s tenants, who has disappeared.  He sits back and counts the money as admirers offer millions for the work of this newly-discovered genius.  But suddenly it becomes clear that there is more to the art- and the artist- than meets the eye.  Ethan is drawn into an age-old murder investigation, which he eventually realises is frighteningly close to home. 

This is no run-of-the-mill thriller.  The narrator isn’t particularly likeable, there are no dramatic confrontations and there’s no implausibly convenient ending.  Slightly annoyingly, stereotypes abound in the arty world of New York which provides part of the setting to this intrigue.  But Jesse Kellerman has proved himself to be a master of the art of suspense, creating that agonising conflict between wanting to get to the end quickly and wanting to savour every word.

If you want to escape into a novel, this book is for you.  And don’t feel let-down if you think you’ve solved the mystery half-way through- you haven’t.  Jesse Kellerman is far too skilful to let that happen.

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