The Brutal Art

Remember the mystery novels that were best presented by great novelists like Agatha Christie? Well, I found another one in Jesse Kellerman’s The Brutal Art.  In the recently published book, Kellerman uses many of the devises of the great Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and current authors, Dan Brown and Jeffery Archer.  In the story, the main character Ethan Muller, the estranged son of a multi-millionaire, is a twenty-something art gallery promoter.  His father’s chief of staff, Tony Wexler, calls him one morning asking him to drop all that he is doing, as he has found a collection of art that was left in one of the rental apartments that his father owned, and he believes the art paintings/drawings will make Ethan rich.  Ethan finally agrees to go and realizes, there are masterpieces in his midst!  The mystery involves who the missing artist is (an older man who has lived a ‘hermit-type’ life) and why he left all the art pieces behind (he has disappeared).  Ethan shows the art in his gallery and the hoopla surrounding the new art hits the press, including the front page of the NY Times.  A few days later a retired NYPD investigator contacts Ethan wanting to know more about the art, as the one picture captured in the paper is of a young boy murdered forty years earlier that the retired cop was looking to solve.  Ethan, skeptical at first, rebuffs the retired police investigator, until he is beaten unconscious while inventorying the vast art pieces by the artist.  He reaches out to the dying investigator, meets his daughter (a NYC ADA) and gets involved in the solving the mystery, which includes, a bidding war on the rest of the collection, warning notes to stop selling the collection, and uncovering his own family’s dysfunction.  All in all, this is a gripping thriller that surprises and has real life emotion and intrigue.  I actually couldn’t put the book down.  Took me 28 hours (with interruptions) to complete.  If you like psychological thrillers, this is one to read.  And yes, an NYU reference in it as well.