AudiobookThis is one of those if it CAN go wrong, it DOES stories.
It starts off well enough. Our "hero" Martin is a family man with a little country home, down for a vacation with his wife and infant daughter. Because both Martin and his wife work in art, their neighbors the Churts -- privileged landowners down to the bottom of their money barrel -- ask them over to get their opinions about some of their paintings. And it's there that Martin first spies the painting that will become an obsession for which he will risk almost anything to possess. You know, it actually continues well enough too. It's often funny and, although he digs himself deeper with every comment, action, and scheme, Martin isn't ridiculous. His decisions make at least some sort of sense...enough so that I couldn't help but root for a couple of them to finally work rather than backfire on him.
The biggest problem was the fact that a good third of the thing was dry-as-dust art history and iconography and just plain-old-regular history. Ugh. I listened to this in the car and I'm just grateful I didn't fall asleep during those frequent lectures.
C-
