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The Genius
The Genius
Author: Jesse Kellerman
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 cert...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780399154591
ISBN-10: 0399154590
Publication Date: 4/10/2008
Pages: 320
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 25

3.6 stars, based on 25 ratings
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Sleepy26177 avatar reviewed The Genius on + 218 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Art gallerist Ethan Muller sees a lot of success when his father right hand Tony Wexler shows him an apartment filled with drawings of the vanished Victor Wexler and how he saw and imagined the world.
He sets Cracke's drawings up for success and soon becomes topic number one in all the big papers when an ex-cop approaches him.
He saw one of the pictures printed in the newspaper and the little Cherub in it looks just like a little boy who was killed in the 50's.
Ethan soon discovers that a few other pictures with Cherubs resemble other boys who have been raped and killed. He now begins to feel that Victor Cracke might be a serial killer and together with the ex-cop and his daughter his life takes a turn when he begins to search for Cracke in need to find out if he is what his drawings indicate.

The book has two parts: The present and interludes beginning in 1847 when Solomon Mueller tries to make a living in the USA. It shows how the family Mueller, later Muller built an empire of companies and money. It really gets interesting when it comes to little boy, David Muller, Ethan's father, how he was raised and the terrible secrets his mother and father kept secret for centuries without letting the public know that a "deep shame", a mongoloid child in 1918, has been born into their family.
It tells how strangely and loveless David has been raised by his parents. His discovery that on the fifth floor lived someone who was removed shortly after he made an accidentally discovery. And how he has to deal with it in the 60's.

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In the beginning I didn't care about the book at all. Two thirds into the book I couldn't wait for the next interlude because those were far more interesting than reading about Ethan's attempts to learn about Cracke's whereabouts. More than once I thought about putting it away until the interludes arrived at the point where David sees the hidden Ruth and she is removed from the big house.The story then made sense to me and I think Kellerman did a fine job to built the story on those interludes.

In the end I felt like the present, Ethan's story, is more like an interlude than anything else. I didn't care for him or what he does at all.
What I care for is the intelligent way the story was built by Jesse Kellerman. In the end he made it to close all lose ends and there were a lot.
reviewed The Genius on + 131 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very good, and different, mystery by an excellent writer.
havenheart avatar reviewed The Genius on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Jesse Kellerman is going to leave both his writer parents in the dust as a writer. He is so creative, and has such a cunning and curious mind, and wow, can he weave a story! This book at first had me so confused, but I kept on, and I was pulled into a complex, unusual and increasingly spine-tingling thriller. I had no idea where I was being taken to! It's hard to imagine this is a first novel...I can't even imagine where Jesse Kellerman is going to be in 15 years from now!
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kaylamariet avatar reviewed The Genius on + 39 more book reviews
This book was a good read, but it seemed that he got tired of writing the book and just ended it.


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