Julia, a restoration specialist, uncovers a centuries-old mystery in a painting she's been hired to prepare for auction.

This is marketed as "a novel of suspense."

Suspense. Meaning it should've been, you know, suspenseful.

It wasn't. In fact, it was supremely unsuspenseful.

In Perez-Reverte's defense, I'm sure hardcore chess players would find this pretty compelling. I'm a softcore chess player. I know the basic moves, but I'm not familiar with the theory and all the fancy-dancy stuff. I just kind of nodded along whenever Julia's pet chess player trotted out some shocking revelation about an unconventional move the killer had used.

On top of that, I guessed the culprit straight off the bat. I read a lot of stories, my friends; I know all the conventions. I know just who's most likely to have done it and why. Is this Perez-Reverte's fault? No, not exactly, but I was rather disappointed that he fell back on convention here. I was hoping for a bigger twist.

(To be fair, it would've been a shocking twist in, say, 1923. Unfortunately, it's 2009).

Perhaps I'd feel differently if the characters had come alive for me. If I'd loved these characters, I have no doubt that I'd have hoped against hope that the mystery would play out in some other way. I'd have refused to believe what my spidey sense was telling me; I'd have fought against the conventions with my last breath. But unfortunately Julia, Cesar, Menchu, Munoz and Max were just words on the page. I was never afraid for them.

And then there's the Big Reveal.

I put a lot of stock in the Big Reveal. I want to see my suspicions confirmed or denied, but I also want to be surprised. I like it to be reasonably brief, too. A quick flash of insight is best; the sort of revelation that causes everything else to click into place. Ten to twenty pages is also acceptable, provided the revelations come fast and tight. Thirty pages is pushing it, unless your protagonist is Hercule Poirot and he's about to delight the hell out of me. Fifty is completely unacceptable.

Perez-Reverte takes nearly fifty pages, and he told me little I didn't already know. What's more, I found some of the content so homophobic that I was embarrassed to be reading it. Munoz makes a lot of generalizations about Cesar, Julia's guardian. Really, really offensive generalizations, from where I stand. I mean, hell, maybe they're true of Cesar, but Perez-Reverte presents them as though they're true of all LGBT folks. This didn't sit right with me.

Prior to that, I was willing to give the book a solid 3 stars. The book is not without its good points. The chess stuff didn't do a whole lot for me, but I can see how it would've been pretty impressive if I were a hardcore chess addict. The writing was elegant, too, and I loved all the art historical stuff and the literary references. And, when push comes to shove, I'm a total sucker for a good historical conundrum, which this is. But the homophobia, paired with the total lack of suspense, was enough to bump my rating down. I can't recommend this.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

Interesting mystery based on old painting with chess theme. Elements involving chess were thoughtful, but expected more interweaving of past and present . Character development weak. Resolution disappointing. ( )

This book started off well, and really drew me in. The writing style is very good. However, the story seemed to fall apart and the characters never acheived the depth one would expect in a well written novel. The ending was very weak. I gave it two stars for the quality of the language and descriptions of the surroundings. ( )

While the concept of the book was intriguing, this novel was a bit tedious to read. Less than an amateur at chess, I found it necessary to study the provided chessboard diagrams for several minutes each time they were presented. In addition to the time spent examining the graphics in the book, several hours were spent trudging through the prose. I was unable to relax and truly enjoy the experience; the style was much more formal than books I'd choose of my own volition and the characters seemed very stiff. (I can't say for sure how much of this was due to the writer's style and how much due to the translator.) I kept waiting to see some sort of intimacy between Julia and Muñoz, but instead was limited to the star-crossed lovers of the painting. I was impressed by Perez-Reverte's knowledge of art restoration techniques as well as his obvious chess know-how; however, I was not altogether pleased with his depiction of César or the other supporting characters. I fear that the author is more cultured than I claim to be - I find it hard to relate to the high-class Spaniards depicted on the pages. Still, I find myself looking back on the bittersweet end to the novel and the intricacies of the piece and admire Señor Perez-Reverte for his complex literary weaving. ( )

Awesome premise (an art restoration expert realizes that a painting she's working on holds clues to a Dark-Ages murder mystery that are encoded in a chess game being played in the painting).

I thought the ending was weak.