Análisis de diario de la biblioteca
| Finkel follows up his best-selling The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit with the captivating story of Stéphane Breitweiser, the world's most prolific art thief, who stole paintings and objects from more than 200 museums across Europe over a span of eight years. The value of the stolen items, some difficult to price, is estimated to be $1-$2 billion. Breitweiser says he never stole for money. Instead, he views himself as a collector who takes art only in the daytime, without violence, when a museum is open to the public. From the opening chapter, Finkel's tight prose heightens the drama of each theft, as Breitweiser and his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, who serves as his lookout, enter Belgium's Rubens House amid visitors and guards. Breitweiser leaves with an ivory sculpture of Adam and Eve, which he adds to his secret galley in his mother's house in France. Finkel also researches Breitweiser's motivation and insatiable hunger for possessing beautiful things, which makes for a fascinating read. VERDICT Finkel will have art history and true crime lovers obsessively turning the pages of this suspenseful, smartly written work until its shocking conclusion.--Denise Miller |
Análisis semanal de editoriales
| In this masterful true crime account, Finkel (The Stranger in the Woods) traces the fascinating exploits of Stéphane Breitwieser, a French art thief who stole more than 200 artworks from across Europe between 1995 and 2001, turning his mother's attic into a glittering trove of oil paintings, silver vessels, and antique weaponry. Mining extensive interviews with Breitwieser himself, and several with those who detected and prosecuted him, Finkel meticulously restages the crimes, describing the castles and museums that attracted Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, his accomplice and romantic partner; the luminous oils and sculptures that caught Breitwieser's eye; and the swift, methodical actions he took to liberate his prizes. According to Breitwieser, his sole motive was aesthetic: to possess great beauty, to "gorge on it." Drawing on art theory and Breitwieser's psychology reports, Finkel speculates on his subject's addiction to beauty and on Anne-Catherine's acquiescence to the crimes. The account is at its best when it revels in the audacity of the escapades, including feats of misdirection in broad daylight, and the slow, inexorable pace of the law. It's a riveting ride. (June) |
