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Thief of Light
After one of his artists is murdered and a fake Monet deal goes terribly wrong, corrupt Manhattan art dealer Adrian Sellars, who makes a fortune selling art forgeries and spends most of it feeding his heroin addiction, takes to the streets to save his life. Reprint.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 24, 2018
A fast-paced thriller set in New York's art world.
March 15, 2020
There are lots of characters and complicated stories in here: an unethical business, a former wife and a daughter, a new romance, a herd of Japanese criminals, the New York Police Department. As it is a thriller of sorts, I won't give you any details for fear of spoiling the experience. Let's just say it will keep you busy.
May 19, 2020
Excellent thriller with a flawed main character.
August 23, 2020
Enjoy art, violence, and flawed characters? Clearly, this thriller was written by a connoisseur of the art world as well as the underbelly of NYC.
March 20, 2024
kept wishing the main character was gunna die
July 18, 2025
I really loved that story. Don't have the book anymore, though ... unfortunately, it's not available as e-book.
July 7, 2009
Read about this author in a magazine from the 90’s while waiting for my taxes to be re-done in Mike Metropole’s office, PA.
The significant thing is the image and story of the author being as, if not more, striking than the actual work/book. Same as, A Confederacy of Dunces, not that these two books should be compared. But that is what sells me. This guy was a heroin addict and a gambling art dealer and hit rock bottom and went through several divorces. The story of John Kennedy Toole… Anyway;
Her bed was rumpled and warm. I drew her to me, kissed her again and got lost in her lips. She tasted like she smelled, of spice and sunlight, and the sea. We were gentle, tentative. We explored, and stroked, finding each other’s rhythms and sensitive places. Aroused, we grew more sure of each other. When I entered her she murmured something, and without hearing her words, I understood. We moved together. I felt her rising to me as if to draw me deeper inside her. As her nipples hardened against my chest she twisted her fingers in my hair and urged me on. Her legs spread wide and she pushed herself up at me, all slippery heat. She called my name, then opened her eyes and looked into mine. She was ready. My world filled with incandescence and white noise, and I exploded inside her.
…Then we kissed, and I kew that I had discovered something. I couldn’t explain it or put it into words. But some part of me that had been murky and confused became clear. Then I drifted off to sleep, all tangled up with Dev. From p. 118.
Not bad. But, after wavering back and forth on whether or not this was a good book or good writing, in the end, I decided, it’s trashy. The first person is often times too cute – (something to be aware of) – and the whole thing is completely out of touch with reality – (another thing to be acutely aware of). 12/25/2007.
The significant thing is the image and story of the author being as, if not more, striking than the actual work/book. Same as, A Confederacy of Dunces, not that these two books should be compared. But that is what sells me. This guy was a heroin addict and a gambling art dealer and hit rock bottom and went through several divorces. The story of John Kennedy Toole… Anyway;
Her bed was rumpled and warm. I drew her to me, kissed her again and got lost in her lips. She tasted like she smelled, of spice and sunlight, and the sea. We were gentle, tentative. We explored, and stroked, finding each other’s rhythms and sensitive places. Aroused, we grew more sure of each other. When I entered her she murmured something, and without hearing her words, I understood. We moved together. I felt her rising to me as if to draw me deeper inside her. As her nipples hardened against my chest she twisted her fingers in my hair and urged me on. Her legs spread wide and she pushed herself up at me, all slippery heat. She called my name, then opened her eyes and looked into mine. She was ready. My world filled with incandescence and white noise, and I exploded inside her.
…Then we kissed, and I kew that I had discovered something. I couldn’t explain it or put it into words. But some part of me that had been murky and confused became clear. Then I drifted off to sleep, all tangled up with Dev. From p. 118.
Not bad. But, after wavering back and forth on whether or not this was a good book or good writing, in the end, I decided, it’s trashy. The first person is often times too cute – (something to be aware of) – and the whole thing is completely out of touch with reality – (another thing to be acutely aware of). 12/25/2007.
July 15, 2007
About a drug dealer turned art dealer. Obviously the author knows art and drops a lot of it in the book. Suprisingly more literate than what I expected from what I had expected to be a simple, straightforward crime novel. But then I read the bio stating that it is the first novel of a "former art dealer" and then the whole thing makes more sense. Still very male-centric:
p. 139 "a room that looked like something out of an Edith Wharton Novel."
p. 116 "Robertson Davies novels stood next to the works of Anais Nin and James Joyce. I was surprised to find Johnathan Carroll's Sleeping in Flame on top of a pile of [art] auction catalogs. She even had Jim Harrison's Dalva set aside with an Alice Waters cookbook."
Had a cool little vignette about a WWII art forger duping Nazis. Had a couple loose ends that are never resolved. But decent overall.
p. 139 "a room that looked like something out of an Edith Wharton Novel."
p. 116 "Robertson Davies novels stood next to the works of Anais Nin and James Joyce. I was surprised to find Johnathan Carroll's Sleeping in Flame on top of a pile of [art] auction catalogs. She even had Jim Harrison's Dalva set aside with an Alice Waters cookbook."
Had a cool little vignette about a WWII art forger duping Nazis. Had a couple loose ends that are never resolved. But decent overall.
November 24, 2009
I found this book at the dollar store, where I was buying some gift wrapping paper. There was a huge shelf full of copies of Thief of Light, at least 100 copies, and they were for sale for 4 for a dollar. I'm not kidding. I bought one, and well, I got my money's worth. It was interesting while I read it, but really rather cheesy. And the first person narration just pushes the fromage factor right over the top.
October 22, 2009
I didnt like this book...well i didnt like the first 100 or so pages because there wasn't any action.After that..ahh it was a good. Madusa found the little boy and boy was there alot going on.
June 1, 2011
I had written "Good suspense novel", but cannot remember any details after so many years. I think I liked it enough to read another book by Ramus.
September 24, 2015
The book started out slowly and I almost decided to give up on it. However, I pushed on and kept reading it. It got way better as the story progressed and I'm glad I decided to stick with it.
September 4, 2009
Art dealers, forgeries, murder, Yakuza ,heroin, love of art, New York - slow start but good read
November 29, 2012
Pretty exciting. wanted more about art, but kept my attention.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews