Whenever she's not painting, struggling artist Claire Roth has a "day" job: copying famous paintings for Reproductions.com, an online reseller. It doesn't pay well, but it covers the bills. When she invites a successful art dealer to view her latest paintings (her own, not the copies), he claims to like them, but what he's really there to do is commission a copy of an Edgar Degas painting that was stolen years ago from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He's acting as a go-between the crooked seller and the crooked buyer, and he's asking not for a reproduction but for a forgery. "I'll sell your version to the buyer through many intermediaries so he can't trace it, pay off the seller so he won't come after me, and I'll give the authentic painting back to the museum. Win-win."

Though Claire has misgivings about this, she eventually relents and copies the Degas. She's so good at it that experts are fooled into believing it's the real thing. But when the buyer is caught with the painting, the FBI steps in, and now everybody's running. Will Claire have to prove that what they sold is only a copy and not the original? Will anyone believe her? And will it save her in any way?

This was a perfectly-written novel: good development, great characters, an intriguing plotline told from three different time periods: the present, three years earlier (when Claire was involved with her art professor), and the letters Isabella Stewart Garner writes to her niece commenting on her art-acquisition travels in Europe. The three interspersed storylines work quite well and build up to much suspense. I not just enjoyed this, but learned about art, art history, and the art of art forgery. :-) Highly recommended. ( )

Rating 4.85

Having recently enjoyed "Metropolis", Shapiro's latest, the topic and concept made this an obvious choice. Meticulously plotted, well researched and paced, we're brought into the world of art, forgery and theft.

We first meet Claire Roth, an MFA who like many artists struggles to gain notoriety. While in school she develops an intimate relationship with Isaac, one of her professors and their bond deepens over time. But when egos get in the way of artists, the outcome is rarely positive. Soon after the split, she learns his work has been selected for a gallery showing. Among the pieces is "4D" a contemporary piece about time, which alarms Claire since it was hers rather than Isaac's. Unable to prove she'd painted it, Claire becomes destitute and takes a job with a reproduction company where she learns the techniques of creating copies. Given her passion and skill with a paint brush, her reproductions are as good as the original, if not better.

Aiden Markel is a much sought after collector and gallery owner. He approaches Claire with a proposition to use her reproduction skills with a fine art piece rarely seen. A tidy sum along with a show at his gallery are the benefit. She experiences trepidation until he arrives with the Degas painting "After the Bath", claiming its the original that had been stolen decades previous. He tells her the copy will be sold to an anonymous buyer and the original be returned to its rightful home. Claire invests weeks researching forgery techniques and the painting's history and in the process, stumbles into a labyrinth of mystery.

In order to clarify the painting's history, the author inserts letters from one of Degas' lovers periodically. While the plot unfurls, Claire begins work on the copy and in the process falls head over heels for Markel. But like all good mysteries, darkness lurks in the corners.

Once the forgery is completed, emotions flair when Markel's story of the sale becomes suspect. Torn about her next move, she relies on her old friend Rik, an art museum curator who later becomes the white knight.

Shapiro's skill at building momentum and knowledge of the art world becomes obvious as is her ability to create believable, interesting characters. I couldn't help but think about similar plots in movies I'd seen, since art forgery has always been of interest. I would have given it 5 stars, but a tinge of predictability became evident early on, though she DOES throws a curveball toward the end.

There's little doubt the author has a knack for unique stories, characters, mystery and surprise. And those are the earmarks of good writing, Highly recommended in all respects. ( )

Flat story. I wish I could write a well thought out review. I did not like this book but I finished it so it gets 2 stars. It drags out for 3 /4 of the book and right when there is action it speeds up. The main character is morally wrong but she doesn't know it. She whines about her ex-boyfriend as if she didn't know what she was doing. She cries a lot. Worries about the same thing over and over. Boring book. ( )

I spent about 1/2 of the book not connecting, then it began to pull me in; I was finally able to connect with characters to the point that I cared. It was rolling along wonderfully then until the ending...suddenly we are six months later and there's this disconnect again. Too bad, the topic was an intriguing possibility for this real life inspired story. ( )

I confess to being wrapped up in the reading of this book and particularly the art of art forgery Shapiro unmasks. I have often wondered why a painting that has hung for hundreds of years on museum walls and been praised for its style and beauty is not just as valuable and just as precious when it is discovered that it was not painted by one of the greats but by his apprentice. Doesn't the art remain the same. Isn't it just as valuable as art even if it was painted by an unknown? We seem to carry our love of celebrity back into the ages before us and it is the name that sells.

Shapiro's main character, Claire, is a bit conflicted on the morality issues and a little heavy on excusing her own part in the disasters in which she becomes involved, but she is very human in wanting to be recognized for her talents. She is so susceptible to praise from what she considers the right sources and she is all too willing to compromise where she knows she should not in order to obtain the recognition that eludes her. In the process, she becomes entangled and must untangle a hell of a gordian knot. Even though it seemed obvious to me what the ultimate solution would be to the "mystery" of the painting, it was a fun ride to the end.

Shapiro gets high marks from me for her research and attention to detail. She is writing about a complicated subject in the art field and she obviously knows her stuff. The details of Belle Gardner's invented life fit seamlessly into what is known to be true about her, and the personality of Edgar Degas is also in keeping with his known traits. I was completely fascinated by the procedure Claire uses to produce her copies and found none of the explanations dry or over-written.

Some books are great, some are worthless, and some fall right in-between. This is one of the later. It isn't erudite, but it does have some points to make about human nature and Faustian deals. I will confess to being pretty upset when my Kindle battery expired and I had to wait overnight before reading the last four chapters and putting the story to bed. I have had some fairly heavy reading of late, and this was just plain, unadulterated fun. ( )