- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (5 Dec 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0755323955
- ISBN-13: 978-0755323951
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,115,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Art of Dying
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Appearances are not what they seem. Rosa Thorn is enjoying the limelight at the opening of her late husband's memorial art exhibition, but what is about to happen is more traumatic than she could ever have anticipated. Friends emerge from the past offering something more sinister than goodwill. Behind the smiles lurk obsession and greed, and in the intensely personal and strange world of the Artist, old scores, rivalries and thwarted ambitions threaten Rosa's very existence. Who can she turn to when art and death embrace in the most chilling way imaginable?
About the Author
Vena Cork is originally from Lancashire, but has lived in London all her adult life. She attended Homerton College, Cambridge, where she was a member of Cambridge Footlights. She is married to the art critic Richard Cork and lives in north west London.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the third "Rosa Thorn" novel I've read. They have the same formula, but this one has the silliest ending.
I've read them in the wrong order chronilogically: I read Green Eye (3rd in sequence) first, then Thorn (1st) then this one (2nd).
This one, as the others, is brilliant for the first 80% of the book, before descending into an improbable and weak (though still annoyingly gripping) ending. Although the other two books had unlikely endings though this one takes the biscuit for farce.
It's a shame, really, because the books are so well-written and engaging. They are just let down by the denouement. Also, probing a little beyond my comfort zone, because I'm not a professional writer or critic at all, but all the characters are so beautifully delinated over a long, smouldering build-up, with the exception of that of the eventual baddie, whose feelings are conveyed in anonymous flashbacks.
I think that I will end up with this author as I did with Reginald Hill; I initially loved the books but ultimately tired of the self-indulgence. I probably won't read another Vena Cork. Well, maybe just one, so see if she can break the mould ...!
I've read them in the wrong order chronilogically: I read Green Eye (3rd in sequence) first, then Thorn (1st) then this one (2nd).
This one, as the others, is brilliant for the first 80% of the book, before descending into an improbable and weak (though still annoyingly gripping) ending. Although the other two books had unlikely endings though this one takes the biscuit for farce.
It's a shame, really, because the books are so well-written and engaging. They are just let down by the denouement. Also, probing a little beyond my comfort zone, because I'm not a professional writer or critic at all, but all the characters are so beautifully delinated over a long, smouldering build-up, with the exception of that of the eventual baddie, whose feelings are conveyed in anonymous flashbacks.
I think that I will end up with this author as I did with Reginald Hill; I initially loved the books but ultimately tired of the self-indulgence. I probably won't read another Vena Cork. Well, maybe just one, so see if she can break the mould ...!
Format:Paperback
Rosa Thorne's artist husband is dead, and at a retrospective of his work she meets a number of players from the art world in which he moved. She soons feels that she is being watched and followed and then one of the artists is killed...
This is a really gripping and fluent read with a range of characters described precisely and vividly. A number of different stories are at play here: Rosa's grief for her husband, her interactions with two of her close friends from College, the problems of an ageing art critic replaced by the attractive new girl, the gallery owner and the millionaire buyer. Both London and the art world are brought to life and one feels that the author knows both intimately. The atmosphere is one of paranoia on the part of more than one character with some menacing and claustrophobic set pieces.
However, as another reviewer has stated, this book is badly let down by a ludicrously unconvincing and absurd ending which undermines all the author's excellent work.
The book also refers back to the events of the first book (Thorn so if you intend to read both, best start there. It sounds uncannily similar, however, to this one.
So I certainly enjoyed reading this, but I don't think I'll be bothering with another Vena Cork unless the premise sounds significantly different.
This is a really gripping and fluent read with a range of characters described precisely and vividly. A number of different stories are at play here: Rosa's grief for her husband, her interactions with two of her close friends from College, the problems of an ageing art critic replaced by the attractive new girl, the gallery owner and the millionaire buyer. Both London and the art world are brought to life and one feels that the author knows both intimately. The atmosphere is one of paranoia on the part of more than one character with some menacing and claustrophobic set pieces.
However, as another reviewer has stated, this book is badly let down by a ludicrously unconvincing and absurd ending which undermines all the author's excellent work.
The book also refers back to the events of the first book (Thorn so if you intend to read both, best start there. It sounds uncannily similar, however, to this one.
So I certainly enjoyed reading this, but I don't think I'll be bothering with another Vena Cork unless the premise sounds significantly different.
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book randomly in the library and was't sure whether I'd like it or not. Although I am not an art fan, the place of this in the book was not over-done. I really liked the story, and the flashbacks to the past makes the reader suspicious of just about every character.
I'd recommend this to anyone.
I'd recommend this to anyone.
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