Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You've never seen a story like this before, anywhere., 8 Jan 2001
Russell James' insightful, brilliantly interpretive and frightening novel illuminates evil. Powerful, controversial and completely absorbing - including a twisted ending - Painting in the Dark is a multi-layered thriller, concentrating on gettng inside criminal minds not to justify monstrosity, but to understand it. The chronicled events are large, the ideas complex. You will be charmed by clever crooks and feel a deep affection for the 85-year-old leading woman. Set in England with flashbacks to Nazi Germany, Painting in the Dark is troubling and unforgettable. It will forever change the way you think about certain public issues, crime and punishment. This is the seventh novel of internationally-recognized Russell James and his finest, a real work of art.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfectly written, plotted and paced, 18 Dec 2000
Russell James is known for his work in noir, which could suggest that this book will be dark and gory. It is not. Instead, Russel has combined the best of writing with the best of plotting to create suspense, intrigue and, at times, a dark humour. His characters are fully-formed and often scary. Not because of what they do but who we perceive them to be. A should-be-innocent is too worldly, a deformed 'freak' is too caring and an old woman is frail but astute. If you're looking for stereotypes, then you won't find them here. What you will find is the richest of writing in the richest of landscapes as befits a book which is, in part, about art. Without doubt, this is the best book that I have read for a long time.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A complex, satisfying thriller, 9 Dec 2000
By A Customer
Painting in the Dark is a complex, satisfying thriller, that's something of a departure from James' previous works of London noir. Set during the General Election of 1997 during which Tony Blair's New Labour swept to power in a wave of zeal, it bounces back to the 1930s, when another charismatic leader was rising in Europe. There are flashbacks to the life of Nazi sympathiser Sidonie Keene (now 85) and her painter sister, who was an intimate of Hitler and Goering. In the present day the art dealer Gottleisch and his unscrupulous assistant, Ticky, are convinced that Sidonie has a hoard of her sister's ever-increasingly valuable paintings and are determined to get them by whatever means necessary. This is a long book (over 300 pages) but never does the pace falter and you are hooked to the end, when the last twist in the tail leaves you breathless. This book was recommended to me by a colleague at work and I was delighted to discover one of the finest thrillers I have ever read.
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