- Paperback: 322 pages
- Publisher: Picador USA; Reprint edition (Nov 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312276966
- ISBN-13: 978-0312276966
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,815,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Earlier books by Paul Watkins such as Archangel and The Story of My Disappearance have been distinguished by a dogged refusal to accept the strictures of the genre. His agenda clearly involves subverting the conventions of the thriller--the final impression being of a literary novelist who can deliver the kind of increased pulse count found in such novels as Graham Greene's The Ministry of Fear. His new book, The Forger, arguably Watkins' most impressive so far, has a brilliantly organised sense of period (Paris 1939). David Halifax is a young American art student who finds himself in Europe as it totters on the brink of the Second World War. His personal life and career appear to be in stasis when he finds himself arrested for forgery, after a crooked art dealer tries to sell some of Halifax's paintings as Old Masters. However, his legal troubles soon appear unimportant when the Resistance press-gangs him into forging a series of great paintings in a scheme to keep them out of the clutches of the Nazis.
It is hard to know where to begin in praising the achievement of this taut and atmospheric piece, which combines truly original plot motifs with effortless and authoritative scene-setting. Halifax is a sympathetic and conflicted protagonist, while the unprepossessing art dealer Fleury has the vividness and colour of all Watkins' subsidiary characters. The first-person narrative manages to freight in several acute observations on the human condition, all the time maintaining the principal effect of accelerating tension. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Watkins is without question one of the most gifted writers of his generation." -Tobias Wolff
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Watkins sets his thriller among the artistic community in Nazi-occupied Paris. The young artist narrator arrives from America having been granted a scholarship which he didnt apply for by an mysterious committee of whom he has never heard. Commencing his studies at the artelier of Pankratov, a russian emigreé with a unique approach to teaching, life appears to be everything he always dreamed of until a friendship with an unscrupulous art dealer and Nazi occupation forces the young artist to make a choice that carries with it the risk of death for himself and all those he holds dear. Watkins draws a vivid portrait of the Paris of the period. The book is highly original, and an atmosphere of mystery and tension is built up throughout. All the characters are vividly drawn and it is perhaps a measure of the effectiveness of the writing that the reader becomes progressively more interested in them and by the end relly cares about what will become of them all. A rewarding read and a story that will stay with he reader for some time afterwards.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very interesting book, for the most part well-researched--yes, it can be disconcerting to come across errors, but they were not at all intrinsic to the plot of what's a novel and not a thesis. That said, I was disappointed at how the book just sort of trickled off to a flat end, losing steam in the final 30 or 40 pages. Still, it's entertaining and educating, throws light on the art world in Europe during the Nazi era, and handles ambitious themes nicely.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great, dark brooding book with a location that you can almost breathe in. A fascinating look at one of the bye ways of history. I think the people quibbling about the name of a museum are missing the point, it doesn't matter whether the museum existed or not, the story still stands - that is the nature of fiction. I am sure many of the other things did not happen and the locations did not exist and the people, shock horror, are not real - it is still a glorious period thriller in the traditional dark and literary Greene and Ambler mould (and recently Alan Furst and Robert Wilson).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Favourite book of all time - ignore the haters
This is a really good book. I read it on a train holiday in France years ago and have re-read it countless times since then. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Biba on marketplace
inspiring
i really enjoyed this book. its concept was imaginative, the characters were vivd and our protagonist had an interesting tale to tell. Read more
Published on 20 Jun 2001
Excellent, thrilling, a great read
A great story, with characters who are real. Other reviewers remark on poor research - this is a novel (and an exciting one at that) not a history lesson. Read more
Published on 23 May 2001 by Naj
A superb read
This book is a real quality read. It puts across the feelings of an artist during the war in a vivid way. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2000
Disappointing, very disappointing
Very sloppy research (not only Musee D'Orsay but stupid historical errors - people being worried about the Milice three years before they were founded) and very uneven pace let... Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2000
A badly researched novel.
Having read a number of Paul Watkins previous novels, I was some what let down by The Forger. Although the story line is not bad the research into the novel is very poor. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2000 by chris@cook.fsnet.co.uk
Well, what a let down!...
Well, what a let down! Slow, poorly researched and thin on excitement. Surely, a wartime novel of this genre should have been far more intriguing. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2000 by peter.fs@mcmail.com
Excellent book - I highly recommend it.
The story plot is wonderful, and keeps building throughout the book, so that once one starts reading it, it's hard to put it down. Read more
Published on 7 July 2000
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