The Rescue Artist

PRAISE FOR

The Rescue Artist

“Dolnick raises good questions about museum responsibility, the complexities of criminal motivation and the sheer madness of the human drive to attach obscene price tags to objects that were created for loftier purposes.”

—John Loughery, Washington Post

“Art theft generates between four and six billion dollars a year in revenues, according to Interpol. That makes it number three in illicit commerce, behind drugs and illegal arms. An engaging tour of this little known world is found in Edward Dolnick’s Rescue Artist.”

—Monica Gagnier, BusinessWeek

“Riveting. … Readers entering the little-known world of Hill with Dolnick as guide are unlikely to exit willingly.”

—Steve Weinberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A masterful portrait of the ‘rescue artist.’ “

—Karen Algeo Krizman, Rocky Mountain News

“The Rescue Artist is an action-packed investigation of the whole sordid history of art crime. … Dolnick, with his seasoned journalistic background, writes with a crisp, breezy style that runs with the speed of thieves purloining stolen canvases.”

—Donald Harington, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“[A] fascinating, stranger-than-fiction story. … The prose is quick, witty, wildly intriguing, and Dolnick’s voice really shines through as he reports the story with a contagious excitement for the topic. … Dolnick pieces together an exceptional book of art thieves, art detectives, artists, and their works, and even after the first chapter it is hard to put the book down and not feel slightly more refined and sophisticated with all the acquired art knowledge.”

—Ben Taylor, Albuquerque Journal

“A highly accessible and well-written book that often evokes a crime novel rather than a work of nonfiction…. The Rescue Artist will satisfy both the reader who would like a good mystery yarn to enliven his or her summer reading as well as someone who wants a crash course in art theft, art recovery, police undercover work, museum security (or the lack thereof), and even a primer on many of the world’s great works of art and the lives of the artists who created them.”

—Lawrence M. Kaye and Howard N. Spiegler,

New York Law Journal

“Edward Dolnick has given us much more than an outstanding detective story that happens to be taken from real life. He has provided us with an insider’s view of the hidden world of art theft, where paintings by old masters are used to settle gambling debts and priceless canvases are rolled up carelessly in the trunk. This is a fascinating tale, expertly told with characters as crisply drawn as any Rembrandt and the sort of intrigue generally found only in a thriller.”

—Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha

“The Rescue Artist is a masterpiece. Engrossing, entertaining, often surreally hilarious. In all, a feat no less impressive than the heist of The Scream in under a minute using nothing but a ladder.”

—Mary Roach, author of

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

“A lively and literate romp through the world of big-time art crime, led by Scotland Yard’s rumpled undercover ace, Charley Hill. … A rollicking good ride.”

—Gerard O’Neill, co-author of Black Mass:

The Irish Mob, the FBI, and a Devil’s Deal