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The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
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About This Book
One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first the story of the world's most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser.In this spellbinding portrait of obsession and flawed genius, the best-selling author of The Stranger in the Woods brings us into Breitwieser's strange world—unlike most thieves, he never stole for money, keeping all his treasures in a single room where he could admire them.For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.In The Art Thief, Michael Finkel brings us into Breitwieser's strange and fascinating world. Unlike most thieves, Breitwieser never stole for money. Instead, he displayed all his treasures in a pair of secret rooms where he could admire them to his heart's content. Possessed of a remarkable athleticism and an innate ability to circumvent practically any security system, Breitwieser managed to pull off a breathtaking number of audacious thefts. Yet these strange talents bred a growing disregard for risk and an addict's need to score, leading Breitwieser to ignore his girlfriend's pleas to stop—until one final act of hubris brought everything crashing down.This is a riveting story of art, crime, love, and an insatiable hunger to possess beauty at any cost.
Reviews
"This ultra-lucrative, odds-defying crime streak is wonderfully narrated by Finkel, in a tale whose trajectory is less rise and fall than crazy and crazier."
"From this personally reported material, as well as other interviews and documentation, Finkel has fashioned an engrossing true crime narrative—mostly told in present-tense prose to heighten the drama—that takes readers along on Breitwieser and Anne-Catherine's daring robberies, quite often carried out in plain sight."
"The final outcome is a shock."
"That combined with mounting dread for the artworks' fate makes for a heart-pounding read."
"Although the definition of a page-turner, this book will also likely force the reader to consider why details of this kind are so exhilarating to us in the first place."
"The account is at its best when it revels in the audacity of the escapades, including feats of misdirection in broad daylight, and the slow, inexorable pace of the law."
"Despite this book's slim size, Finkel's efforts to fill its pages eventually strain, padding them with generic musings on why people make art ..."
"Finkel's play-by-play of each theft has the pacing and atmosphere of a good suspense tale ..."
"Finkel, through meticulous research and extensive investigation of trial and interview transcripts, does nudge us to consider: What is the best way to preserve the past?"
"Finkel examines the circumstances that fed Breitwieser's obsession and led to his downfall."
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