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| The Genius | 
 enlarge | Author: Jesse Kellerman
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $7.25
You Save: $17.70 (71%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $5.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  (16 reviews)
Sales Rank: 21870
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0399154590
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399154591
ASIN: 0399154590
Publication Date: April 10, 2008
Release Date: April 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Harlan Coben on The Genius
Harlan Coben is one of the virtuosos of the modern thriller. Each new novel hits the top of bestseller lists across the world, and he has become the first author to sweep the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony awards. Beginning with his acclaimed Myron Bolitar series (including the recent Promise Me), Coben soon branched out into stand-alone thrillers that have made his name as a master of clockwork suspense, including his latest, Hold Tight, which brings his trademark thrills into the most basic dilemmas of the modern suburban family.  "In the beginning, I behaved badly." That's how the uber-talented Jesse Kellerman opens up his newest novel, The Genius, and right away, he has you. I won't give you a long plot summary because others will do it better, but briefly: A young art dealer named Ethan Muller manages to get hold of a treasure trove of original art after the artist, an unknown shut-in named Victor Cracke, disappears. The first sign of trouble crops up when a retired cop recognizes one of the figures as being a boy who died some 40 years earlier. Ethan's life spirals out of control from there. Before the story is over, Ethan will learn to question everything about his "wonderful" discovery--as well as his own family's destiny. Yes, the book is gripping and compelling and Ethan Muller, the narrator, is wonderfully wry company, but what truly separates Kellerman from the pack is his prose. Simply put, he is a wonderful writer. He has the ability to make everything seem, well, true. Every scene has that ring of authenticity that's so elusive in fiction. I bought everything that Ethan did--and loved the flashbacks showing how the Muller family went from poor immigrants to real-estate tycoons. I love books where past crimes will not stay buried. The web of deceit in The Genius stretches back four decades, but it is still claiming victims. Jesse Kellerman tightens the noose slowly, and we his readers can do nothing but turn the pages. I have been a fan since his debut, Sunstroke, but he's getting better and better. If you've already read Jesse Kellerman, don't waste anymore time reading this review. If you haven't yet discovered his work, The Genius is the place to begin--and not a bad description of the author.
Product Description
The sinister and provocative thriller from crime writings freshest new voice.
Ethan Muller is struggling to establish his reputation as a dealer in the cut-throat world of contemporary art, when he stumbles onto a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: in a decaying New York slum, an elderly tenant named Victor Cracke has disappeared, leaving behind a staggeringly large trove of original artwork. Nobody can say anything for certain about Cracke, except that he came and went in solitude for nearly forty years, his genius hidden and unacknowledged. All that is about to change.
So what if, strictly speaking, the art doesnt belong to Ethan? He can sell itand he does just that, mounting a wildly successful show. Buyers clamor. Critics sing. Museums are interested, and Ethans photo looks great in The New York Times. Then things go to hell.
Suddenly the police want to talk to him. It seems that Victor Cracke had a nasty past, and the drawings hanging in the Muller Gallery have begun to look a lot less like art and a lot more like evidence.
Is Victor Cracke a genius? A murderer? Both? Is there a difference? Sucked into an investigation four decades cold, Ethan will uncover a secret legacy of shame and death, one that touches horrifyingly close to home.
Kellermans tight, assured prose is electrifying, exhilarating, and compulsively readable. Part confessional, part philosophical inquiry, Stop is the detective novel reimagined like never before.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
All in the Family June 16, 2008
Genes (and genealogy) apparently play a vital role both in the writing of this novel, as well as in the plot itself. The author, the son of two well established writers, obviously has inherited his talent from his parents with the same surname. His previous two novels were outstanding, and the present contribution is no less, although I must admit there were a few touches which this reader could have done without. While hardly detracting from the novel, these asides--while deliberately used as a device--seemed worthy of a writer of lesser skills.
As for the plot, genes and family history play an important role. Ethan Muller, the wayward son of an extremely wealthy New York family, reminiscent of the Trumps or LeFraks, becomes a fairly successful art dealer after having led a wastrel life for slightly more than a couple of decades. He resents and is estranged from his father, but seems to be quite close to his right-hand man, Tony Wexler. In any event, one day, Tony summons him to a rather seedy housing project in Queens owned (among many other things) by the family and shows him thousands of drawings in an apparently abandoned apartment. Ethan goes "ga-ga" over the drawings and plans a showing.
The exhibition creates a furor, and the drawings attract extremely high bids. A retired detective notices a reprint, and one of the subjects resembles a murdered 10-year-old killed and raped years before. This sets Ethan off on an ambivalent journey. He considered the thousands of drawings high art, but are they the product of a murderer? He has to learn more about the artist, but clues are few and far between. It becomes an obsession--a quest for the truth.
It is a well-crafted study, worthy of the masters of the genre. While ostensibly a mystery, it is a family saga par excellence. It is an unusual and intriguing plot, filled with well-drawn characters. Except for the above-noted reservation, this standalone is a worthy successor to the author's initial two efforts, making for a hat trick. Now we await the next novel with baited breath. Highly recommended.
A Taut, Bleak Thriller June 5, 2008
Well-crafted, atmospheric thriller. Although, as others have mentioned, many of the characters are not completely likeable, this does not detract from the book or the plot; rather, it is reality seeping through. Vivid and realistic portrayal of the art world. Well-plotted and hard to put down. I've recommended this one to everyone I know. Kellerman is turning into an excellent writer and has already outdone his father, dare I say it?!
 literally read it in one sitting... May 27, 2008
and I'm not that fast of a reader...but Kellerman smashes a long ball in this completely absorbing thriller about an art dealer who gets way out of his depth after taking possession of a dead reclusive artist's drawings and paintings. After the dealer starts getting threatening letters, he's drawn into a mystery involving a veteran detective and one of the artist's drawings that may be a picture of a victim of an unsolved murder from 40 years ago. It seems that the jumping off point for this novel is Henry Darger, an unassuming man whose fantastical and obsessive drawings were discovered after his death. Kellerman avoids the Law and Order trap of going off the rails or slavish imitation when it comes to real-world inspiration. I'm absolutely going to pick up his other two novels. I finished this at the same time as a new book by Adam Gittlin called The Deal; both feature a young, smart and ambitious protagonist in a rarefied world who get pulled into the undertow of a mystery - I'd recommend them both.
 Just say "no"! May 15, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was not at all what I expected from the "product description." I would really like to be specific in my criticism, but I was disappointed all the way to the end. I didn't like or connect with any of the characters. While I've enjoyed other books that jumped back and forth from past to present, this one felt very disjointed, even when I knew where the author was going. If you like a good thriller or mystery, I wouldn't recommend "The Genius." I gave this a one star rating because I didn't know how to give it a no star rating!
Not your typical crime novel May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an incredibly well written book, but it's not a thriller. It's a detective novel and also a character study and also a family saga. You're two-thirds through the book before you get the connection between the family saga and the detective narrative. Somebody else commented that they didn't like any of the characters, and it's true that they aren't exactly likable. In most books that would bother me, but in this book I didn't care. I understood them and why they were the way they were, and I loved it.
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