The Gnome King reviewed Forgery by Ellen Jones
A proper good art thriller
4 stars
A literary art thriller, crammed full of action, art and mystery, but what makes this book really special is the characters. They have been crafted with such care and like one of those renaissance paintings you get drawn in and see much more than what is on the surface. I really liked how everybody has their own agenda but are playing their cards close to their chest giving nothing away and making you guess something new every other page.
Our main character is José, an artist down on his luck, about to lose everything but luck throws one more job his way, a forgery of a sixteenth painting and his client is the suspiciously excitable Horacio, he is up to his neck in dodgy doings, and you can sense an underling threat of violence. My favourite character was Horacio's mother she felt like she was straight out of a painting …
A literary art thriller, crammed full of action, art and mystery, but what makes this book really special is the characters. They have been crafted with such care and like one of those renaissance paintings you get drawn in and see much more than what is on the surface. I really liked how everybody has their own agenda but are playing their cards close to their chest giving nothing away and making you guess something new every other page.
Our main character is José, an artist down on his luck, about to lose everything but luck throws one more job his way, a forgery of a sixteenth painting and his client is the suspiciously excitable Horacio, he is up to his neck in dodgy doings, and you can sense an underling threat of violence. My favourite character was Horacio's mother she felt like she was straight out of a painting stuck in a constant pose of beauty, the scenes came alive when she stepped into them.
The book is set in Guadalajara, Mexico and you get a real sense of the place, how hot and dry it was and that midday sleepiness. There is also a ridiculous amount of food included too, I don't think my mouth has watered quite as much.
This was a very interesting read, plenty of knowledge shared about how to forge a painting and the techniques used and a nice tidy plot with no loose ends. I'm now off for tacos and to look for a goats bladder.
