Fair Warning [Paperback]

In this sphere of acquisition collectors say, "Yes. Yes. I will embrace these things. I will treasure these things. I will own these things so that I might possess a little of what the world is all about. It is like identity, is it not? I own this thing, therefore I am?"

It is also a world where beautiful, 40-year-old Amy Dickerson reigns as star auctioneer for New York City's most prestigious auction house, Nichols and Gray. Her perception, panache, and palaver enable her to sell an unassuming Renoir for more than twice its value in a business "built on the three `d's': debt, divorce, and death."

Perhaps Amy's future was determined when as a child in Houston she sold Missy, her 3-year-old sister. She stood before neighborhood children practicing an art she'd learned attending cattle auctions with her father.

"Ladies and gentleman," Amy intoned, "no greater or more complete perfection of animal beauty ever stood on two legs than the little girl who stands before you. She has prize-winning breeding and good teeth..."

Whatever the case, Amy is at the top professionally but still on the first rung in her personal life. With two throw-away lovers in her immediate past she is intrigued by Trevor, he of the dark eyes and recently deceased mother whose apartment is crammed with Victoriana. Yet, there is something unsettling about the man who at the last minute decides he cannot part with his mother's belongings.

Meanwhile, Amy's widowed mother calls and begs Amy to return to Houston to auction all of her father's possessions, items the older woman can no longer bear to look at. This visit causes Amy to reassess her relationship with her father, a tall , broad shouldered cowman who never understood why she didn't remain with him to run the family cattle business. Not only that but she comes to wonder exactly who she is and what she is meant to do. Is Earth simply a place where everyone owns or is owned?

Enter Alain Bouchard, wealthy and exciting Frenchman, who is buying Nichols and Gray and gives every sign that he wishes to obtain Amy as well. He offers her a more than lucrative contract to remain with the auctions house and promises a trip to "his" Paris.

Yet, as with Trevor, Amy eventually senses that Alain may not be the perfect lover after all. Once in his apartment she appraises it with a connoisseur's eye and more - she finds a hidden cache that is both provocative and revealing.

Robert Olen Butler has created a strong, interesting character with Amy. But she is a woman with whom it is hard to empathize. Her tough, cynical exterior belie the notion that she has a heart to be broken.

Nonetheless, Fair Warning is an intriguing peek at the glamorous rich who are propelled by their "shopping pheromones."

The main enjoyment of this novel comes from a character study in the form of its protagonist, Amy Dickerson. She is an auctioneer for a small but prestigious Manhattan auction house. She has a natural ability to read and understand people which makes her very good at her job. She is able to see what people are willing to part with in terms of both money and objects. On the other hand, this ability interferes with her relationships both with her family and her potential lovers. While longing for the ethereal herself, she can only see people's material wants and that includes a person's desire for her. In the end, she must try to see her own desires most clearly and come to peace with them.

This is a nice little book. Butler's prose is quite engaging and the book is short enough to be read at a single sitting. Amy and her relationships do make for a fun glimpse into an upper class New York/Paris world. I was tripped up a bit at the end by Alain's neo-Naked Pictures of My Ex-Girlfriends obsession which seemed a bit of a cheap ruse in an otherwise very emotionally realistic novel. Still, it is certainly worth the time.