Thoughts on...The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser

Just so you know, there is a story first.....

2009 was my first year book blogging and an introduction to reading challenges. I had a lot of fun reading stuff I wouldn't normally just because it fit a challenge, then 2010 came around and I saw Art History....

I don't know "art", I don't read artsy books. I signed up.

I scanned my shelves and found two then turned to amazon. The title got my attention (family name) but the tag line grabbed me. I went the whole year without reading any of the books on my list, failing the reading challenge.

The book still had my attention so in July of 2011, I broke down and purchased it. And there it sat on my shelf, waiting. Until another reading challenge. I needed a book who's title started with G. I'm sure there were many I could have chosen but this one was sitting on my shelf. Accessible now. Still interesting.

My search for the Gardner art would take me to four countries, a dozen states, and more cities and towns than I care to count. I would develop a deep and consuming zeal for the case.

That consuming zeal comes through in the writing of the book. His frustration and excitement bounced off the pages and carried me with him. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to read this and if I didn't have to be somewhere in the morning, there is no way I'd put the book down! I expect to finish it before Monday ends.

Finished before Monday ends? How about before breakfast!

I feel unsatisfied but I think it is because of all the work and nothing to show for it. The foot dragging, the not interested atmosphere, there are more important things to worry about search/work ethic. Maybe it's just because the book ended. There is no solution. Lots of work and overtime and it all ends with nothing. The writing is strong and the frustration came off the pages.

If you're interested in true crime or art, I feel you'd like this book. Let me leave you with a quote by Art detective Harold Smith

When art is stolen, there are hundreds of thousands of people who would be deprived of seeing it. Art theft isn't just a crime against the owner. It's a crime against the American people.

Disclaimer: This title is from my personal library. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and may differ from yours. Book information courtesy of publisher/amazon


The Gardner Heist
The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
by Ulrich Boser

publisher: Harper Paperbacks ...HarperCollins
published: March 2010
ISBN: 978-0061451843
format: Trade paperback
genre: True Crime/Art History
age range 18+ per publisher (I'd let my 8th grader read it)
272 pages (includes index, etc)


Product Description:

Shortly after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men broke into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and committed the largest art heist in history. They stole a dozen masterpieces, including one Vermeer, three Rembrandts, and five Degas. But after thousands of leads—and a $5 million reward—none of the paintings have been recovered. Worth as much as $500 million, the missing masterpieces have become one of the nation's most extraordinary unsolved mysteries.

After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves. A tale of art and greed, of obsession and loss, The Gardner Heist is as compelling as the stolen masterpieces themselves.

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