Brief

A talented young artist realizes he can create a forgery of a stolen Picasso that is good enough to fool experts. Using his family ties to the underground world of organized crime, he and his friends are able to set up a scam.

What We Liked

- This was a fun read that we didn't want to put down. It has the excitement of a heist movie as the plan is put into place, but what really adds to the world is the multidimensionality present in all of the main characters. The main characters are layered and unique and pull you into the mystery of their lives.
- Film: As a film, this would be a great thriller that viewers would flock to for a fun weekend movie experience.
- TV: This would be a great weekly thriller where each season focused on a different main scam as a whole but each episode also revealed a little more about the characters and their world.
- Key points: Exciting; Well written; Unique premise; Detailed characters; High stakes

Synopsis

Marty Ronan has always been an incredibly talented fine artist, but he's never had a passion for it. While in art school, he starts hatching an idea for a scam: he could reproduce a stolen Picasso and sell it someone, and before they figured it out, it would be too late to do anything about it and he would have a few million dollars. Although he's only 20 years old, crime is familiar to Marty--his father worked for the mob boss Frank Piccolo for years. His childhood best friend, Matt, also has ties to the mob. Matt's father was killed in Marty's father's bar, Limerick, back when it was a bar. Recently, it's been taken over by Frank's son, Vince, who employed Marty's older brother, Colin, and turned it into a strip club.

Marty runs his idea by Matt and his roommate, Howie, a British DJ. Matt and Howie both believe that Marty is talented enough to pull off the forgery, and Howie offers to get them in contact with some potential buyers, as Howie knows plenty of rich people in low places. Matt suggests they secretly ask Frank for advice by asking him if he knows of any art forgers claiming it's for a school project for Marty. Colin sets up the meeting, but to everyone's surprise, Frank meets with Marty directly. While Vince threatens Matt away from going to the club his girlfriend dances at on the outside in the bar, inside Colin's office, Frank offers to introduce Marty to a retired pro forger and forbids him from pulling the scam on certain people. Marty agrees, knowing that, although it is unsaid, he will have to pay a high percentage to Frank if everything goes according to plan.

Marty does research on high profile art thefts in the library and finds the perfect candidate for his forgery: a Picasso pastel called ""Two Women."" As this is 1990 and he cannot just google the image, it takes him weeks of research to find out what the stolen piece looked like. The hardest part is finding a colored version of the piece, and it takes him a month to find a color plate he can use. After many tries, he is able to create a successful copy. He goes to New York and meets with Frank's friend, the former forger Tatarov, who gives him some advice and encouragement.

Marty and Matt set up a plan to sell to a New York businessman through Howie. While Howie is on the phone with the businessman, he implies that he works for a man who works for Pablo Escobar. This ends up helping Marty and Matt when they meet with the New York man. Everything goes well and the expert is fooled and verifies that the forgery is the real Picasso. However, the New York target reveals that he is actually acting on behalf of another buyer and is unable to make the purchase immediately. Marty and Matt are angry and make arrangements to go to San Francisco instead. They tell the buyer that this is his last chance. The original buyer flies out to San Francisco and meets with them. The sale goes through, and the boys return home, feeling a little richer but mostly feeling the thrill of the success.

Howie moves back home to England and Matt starts getting more involved in organized crime back in their hometown. One day, Marty is approached by a mysterious stranger who tells him that he has figured out his scam, but is not going to go after Marty. Instead, he offers to bring Marty into his business.

Marty makes a deal with this man to work for him as long as he helps protect Matt from the mess he's in.

About The Author

From the murder capital of Oakland, to the bustling streets of Bangkok, author James Kelly has worked as top level mercenary operating on the frontlines with the RCMP, DEA, ICE, INTERPOL, AFP, and a whole slew of clandestine intelligence agencies around the world fighting transnational terrorism and organized crime. Kelly has worked in overseas investigations in Asia, Australia, India, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.