Neil Griffiths (1)

I knew nothing about Neil Griffiths before hearing about his role in instigating the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses thanks to my Mookse friends. Some of us met him at the Goldsmiths Prize announcement event last September where he showed us this book. My eye was caught by some of the names on the cover quotes, from Rowan Williams to Mike McCormack and Joanna Kavenna.

This book is nothing if not ambitious -a brave attempt to transplant the theological seriousness of the show more likes of Dostoyevsky into a 21st century context. However as a convinced atheist I cannot be the ideal reader for this and in order to review it fairly I will have to restrain my "inner Dawkins".

The plot revolves around Proctor McCullough, who works as a consultant for the government modelling responses to terrorist atrocities. He has a spiritual vision of a church by a cliff top and resolves to build it, finding a site in the West Country, risking estrangement from his partner and young twins and attracting a motley band of young followers who help him to realise the project and provide various tests to his faith and his resolve. The two main parts are referred to as New Testament and Old Testament (in that order!), perhaps reflecting the nature of the challenges.

For all these reservations I was very impressed and found most of the book very readable, and if it fails to match Dostoyevsky or to convince me that my lack of faith is wrong, that is understandable. show less

This blew me away. A thriller with real depth about obsession and negotiation. But its overall timbre is that of chiaroscuro ...
Art cop Daniel Wright recovers stolen paintings - he's one of the best at negotiating in the shadows to reclaim these works of art. His speciality is Caravaggio, and there is one long-missing canvas he saw for a few moments once, which now obsesses him. When he's sent to Italy to do some undercover work at the Uffizi, he seizes his chance to go after the painting, show more realising that it's more important to him than his failing relationship with his wife. He's helped towards that by meeting curator Francesca!
I'm not a fan of Caravaggio, finding him too dark, but the author does give us interesting insights into understanding why he was an artistic genius and worthy of such obsession and study.
The shafts of light through this dark novel are few and far between, the characterisation is brilliant and the side of Italy that we see is very different from that experienced by any tourist. show less

This could have been a good book - the subject matter was what made me want to read this, but the way it was written was dreadful.. The sentences were choppy, and short - it left no room for character development. Were I to rec'd. a book about someone trying to recover this stolen painting, I would direct them to the true story The Caravaggio Conspiracy by Peter Watson. This is a true story of Peter Watson going undercover to try to get the painting back.