3 out of 4 stars
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On the fateful day of March 18, 1990, priceless works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two thieves posing as police officers responding to a distress call. Among the stolen works was The Concert by Dutch painter Vermeer, which till date remains unrecovered - until now.
It’s 2018. Karina Cardinal - a Congress lobbyist, and her boyfriend Patrick are visiting his parents’ mansion where she accidentally stumbles upon The Concert hidden behind a secret panel in Patrick’s father’s study. At first, she is not sure, but her curiosity gets the better of her and after she does some research, is shocked to know about the painting’s history. A barrage of questions torments her – how did this reach Martin Dunne (Patrick’s father)? Was it obtained illegitimately? If yes, could she prevail upon Martin to return it to the museum anonymously? Most importantly, is it so easy to return a million-dollar stolen artwork? Read the book to discover the answers for yourself.
Isabella’s Painting by Ellen Butler is a fun, fast-paced read. This book has little dollops of everything- action, mystery, and romance. Hence, fans of all the three genres can take the plunge and the consistently fast pace of the novel will let them finish it in a few sittings. Karina’s character appealed to me the most. She is not a detective so one must applaud her skills in uncovering the mystery. The author needs to be lauded too for thoroughly researching the subject before incorporating it into a work of fiction. Karina is a selfless, caring and humorous person and is sassy too, which is demonstrated by her funny quips all throughout the book. Her relationship with her co-workers is nicely portrayed. She is a spunky woman who owns her decisions which provides a refreshingly different take from the run-of-the-mill thrillers where female characters are stereotyped as dependent on men.
There are two POVs in this book – one is predictably, that of Karina's and another one belonged to a totally unexpected person that revealed a seemingly law-abiding man to be not so decent after all. Further, the author uses idioms effectively to drive home her point. Her literary expressions at the beginning of the book had me marveling at her writing prowess and even compelled me to highlight several sentences. But as the story progressed, the language became simpler. This came in handy while describing the action scenes but once a high standard is set, I expect the author to maintain it. The parts about the Dark Web and the museum heist were fascinating to read.
Nevertheless, I have reasons to complain. There is inadequate character development which is typical of an average mystery novel. Moreover, since the book is based on a real-life museum heist, I had expected the author to provide a satisfying dénouement. However, I was disappointed. The buildup was good, but the Gordian knot was resolved in a jiffy. To me, it resembled a case of much ado about nothing. Besides, Karina’s first relationship is portrayed in detail but the development of her second one is skipped altogether. Maybe the author wants to preserve these details for the later books in this series.
In the light of the above-mentioned points, I rate it a 3 out of 4. It classifies as a light-hearted novel. This may not be mind-blowing, but it’s still an enjoyable one-time read. It was professionally edited as I could not discern any error. Readers can themselves explore on the Internet about the Gardner museum robbery. In fact, the author encourages them to do so. As this book is sans any violent scenes or graphic erotic content, young readers can also pick it up.
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Isabella's Painting
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when I get a little money I buy books; and if I have any left l buy food and clothes
