Estelle Ryan | redpillows

About the Book:

Art theft. Coded messages. A high-level threat.

Despite her initial disbelief, Doctor Genevieve Lenard discovers that she is the key that connects stolen works of art, ciphers and sinister threats.

Betrayed by the people who called themselves her friends, Genevieve throws herself into her insurance investigation job with autistic single-mindedness. When hacker Francine appears beaten and bloodied on her doorstep, begging for her help, Genevieve is forced to get past the hurt of her friends’ abandonment and team up with them to find the perpetrators.

Little does she know that it will take her on a journey through not one, but two twisted minds to discover the true target of their mysterious messages. It will take all her personal strength and knowledge as a nonverbal communications expert to overcome fears that could cost not only her life, but the lives of many others.

My Thoughts:

After having read the Gauguin Connection, it was imperative that I would read the next in the series. Even though I felt that the first book had some flaws that I felt existed, it felt right to read on to find out what happens to Genevieve. The story starts off with her feeling lonely and rather angry at her new friends who had supposedly deserted her. She falls back into her usual routine of work and stops talking to people once again. Everything changes when Francine turns up at her doorstep, hurt and begging for help. Genevieve is once more forced to revisit her outlook on life and people and to once again learn to trust people.

Thus follows a series of events that force Genevieve to work with the very people she had thought had abandoned her. This story though quite good, seems to be a little repetitive and many points that were already introduced about our characters are repeated again. This may deter the reader a little and make them pause for a while. However, as the story progresses, it gets better and if we overlook these small things, the story is rather interesting and well written.

For a book filled with mystery revolving around art, this is well thought out and the clues are wonderful. The connection to Dante and the coded messages are intriguing for both the characters and the reader. This is worth a read for fans of this genre. It may seem slow, but is readable even when reading with pauses.

Book Blurb:

Murdered artists. Masterful forgeries. Art crime at its worst.
As an insurance investigator and world renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Dr Genevieve Lenard faces the daily challenge of living a successful, independent life. Particularly because she has to deal with her high functioning Autism. Nothing – not her studies, her high IQ or her astounding analytical skills – prepared her for the changes about to take place in her life. It started as a favour to help her boss’ acerbic friend look into the murder of a young artist, but soon it proves to be far more complex. Forced out of her predictable routines, safe environment and limited social interaction, Genevieve is thrown into exploring the meaning of friendship, expanding her social definitions, and for the first time in her life be part of a team in a race to stop more artists from being murdered.

My Thoughts:

I picked up this book not quite sure what to expect. The synopsis speaks of an plot filled with action and some rather interesting characters. At first I was confused and the story seemed to move at a very slow pace. As I continued reading, however, the pace of the story seemed to pick up. The story has a good plot and well developed characters. However, Genevieve is portrayed as a perfect human being as well as highly intelligent. In some ways it is a little scary that someone can be that perfect, but overall, she does fit into the concept and the story well. Her carefully constructed routine comes crashing down when she is asked to consult on a case being investigated upon by her boss’ friend. This is followed by her encounter with and the introduction to our other protagonist, a thief who is now trying to find those behind the same murders. Working together, after slowly gaining Genevieve’s trust, they work to uncover the truth. What follows is a race against time to solve the mystery and prevent any more deaths.

After a while, the plot’s pace increases some and it becomes quite interesting. The author uses Genevieve’s condition very well and demonstrates her behaviour and that of the people around her as a result of this. The author also brings out the contrast in natures of the main protagonists and we watch as Genevieve grows from her usual recluse self to someone slightly more comfortable around people (within reason and some limits of course!). Though it feels as though a lot of emphasis is given to this and many a time there is repetition of things that have already been mentioned and explained, one can overlook this and read on without much discomfort. Also brace yourselves for a glimpse into the artistic world and some insight into certain artists and their style of painting. Overall this is a decent, one time read!