Rembrandt's Ghost

Finn Ryan #3

by Paul Christopher

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Lucifer Gospel

There is truth in art. But the truth can kill.

Young archaeologist Finn Ryan is laboring for a London auction house when she gets some unlikely luck. Along with the handsome young nobleman Billy Pilgrim, she's inherited a house in Amsterdam, a cargo ship off Borneo South Pacific, and what appears to be a fake Rembrandt.

But the fake hides a real Rembrandt portrait, which in turn hides a clue to a centuries-old mystery. Finn and Billy aren't the only ones who know what is at stake-and what is waiting to be found at the bottom of the South Pacific. Pursued around the globe by ruthless adversaries, Finn and Billy are thrown into the hunt for a forgotten treasure that could change their lives forever-or end their lives in an instant.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Suspense, Historical Fiction, Mystery Thriller

347 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Paul Christopher is a pseudonym used by the author Christopher Hyde.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Cathy DuPont · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read years ago...just ran across a reference and remembered it but not in a good way.

Not to bother reading unless it's free and then only if there's nothing else to read and then only if you're young and have your life ahead of you. And then...well, why not write your own book instead? That would be time better spent.

[Zak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. I really liked it, or at least I would have loved one of the five books this could have been. There was so much stuffed in here that the narrative felt unfocused. Instead of mining ten different tropes and tossing them into a blender, maybe just choosing one or two and sticking with those would make a better story. Crooked govt officials, a revolutionary pirate, a lost island, TWO different treasures, shipwrecked Japanese sailors who still think the war is still going on, an art mystery, a historical mystery, a typhoon, and lots of maritime stuff. That’s just too much. oh did I mention a weird link between the South China Sea and Homer’s Odyssey that isn’t explored? And somehow even with all that, it still managed to feel a bit dull. There was a severe lack of excitement here that had no reason to exist. The two principal redeeming qualities are that the characters are likeable, even the villain, and the prose style is like that of a kindly grandfather who gets really excited about tiny details and has a tendency to ramble about what he finds interesting. If not for the coziness of the prose, it would have felt like “hey look at all this research I did!!” But the writing manages to maintain a certain charm. Finn Ryan, I really like as a protagonist, she is brave, smart, and resourceful, though the author does play her a bit passive, things seem to happen to her rather than she makes things happen. It’s an okay book. Not enough fighting, chases and explosions to keep a wild pace, but enough interesting info to keep you seeing what’s around the next bend. Meh. As an adventure thriller enthusiast, it’s good to check off the list and see how someone plays in the sandbox, but not a must read.

[Adi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book just doesn't live up to the bold title. The story was lazy and far too unrealistic. I had a feeling that Paul Christopher doesn't care much about his characters, so naturally, as a reader, I didn't care much about them either. Moreover, the main characters always seemed to escape even the most dangerous situations unharmed, while some of the secondary characters died in a very silly ways.
Overall, it's a simple and leisurely read, especially if you have no high expectations.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is #3 in the Finn Ryan series. Enjoyable, like an action movie!

[Ésa · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the moment about 88% finished on the kindle and once more, it feels as though it's only 50%. But I know the book will finish very soon and cannot help but feel disappointed once more already.

The writing style of the author is fantastic, in my opinion. He describes everything with detail, never too much and always on the spot leaving enough room for the readers' imaginations. But unfortunately, he never goes into the right details as far as the plot is concerned! Which drives me nuts.

For example, (I do not consider this as a spoiler as I will leave enough details out) gold figurine - not once did the main characters ask about its significance, why was that particular individual given it and thus explain the connection.
Instead the author goes on about where the figurine came from, a brief lecture on its history and then on that alone, the main characters go off onto the next leg of the adventure.
Would not any normal person ask why? in relation to this oh so important object??

Another example, where on earth did one of the main character meet this obscure individual once they got to this new bit of land? Suddenly this character appears and follows the main characters around and not once was it explained where they met, how!

I'm trying to keep from putting in anything that may consider as spoiler but there were so many details from this story which didn't tie in together and didn't make any sense, or were just ignored completely!
There were a lot of back and forth dialogue containing ''but maybe they just xyz'' and ''but maybe they didn't do abc'' etc.
And left me as a reader wondering but what happened to continuing the explanation with the previous thread....did I miss a page when I downloaded the book on kindle or what happened?

Another interesting detail is that the author cannot count. In one part of the story he tried to describe 5 figures coming; he described, again in very good language, the first figure, then two other figures....and straight onto the fifth figure.....I was left wondering if it was me who couldn't get it or what...

Another part which didn't make sense was that the author tried to describe what had happened to one individual, their succes some 400 years ago....then tried to make one of the main characters argue that maybe its something the others, some 400 years LATER, had missed.
But then that begs the question, wouldn't these later people have already scoured all possibilities by then, afterall we are talking about one single known situation that happened 400 years ago.
400 years ago it was also possible to rape and pillage entire villages across the country merely bearing your lord or king's name....doesn't mean it can happen now....

So, again, disappointed. Need to work on the logic of those stories a bit more Mr. Christopher.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright read about a young lady coming into an inheritance that sends her and a young man on a wild chase across Europe and through the smaller Asian islands. Where the mysterious Rembrandt painting comes into play is a minor bit part that gets the whole enchilada cooking, and a minor play at the end. This is more of what I call a "fluff" read than anything really serious. There is not that much to get really excited about but I did not feel I had really lost anything by reading the book as it is a quick read.

[Véronique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een literaire avonturenroman, beter kan ik dit boek niet omschrijven. Paul Christopher is één van die auteurs die het voor wat mij betreft helemaal heeft. Het probleem met avonturenromans is dat ze vaak - meestal - goedkoop geschreven zijn. Het boek kan dan wel inhoudelijk niet tippen aan dergelijke meesterwerken, maar Christopher's manier van schrijven deed mij soms erg denken aan Elizabeth Gilbert's "Het hart van alle dingen" of zelfs "Het Puttertje" van Donna Tartt. En wat kan een mens nog meer wensen ?

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oy vey this was mindless tripe. Potentially ticked all my favorite boxes: murder mystery, set in London, with a historical twist. In reality, though, it was just piffle that romped through half the globe with little character development and few plausible twists. Also, what's the point of having such attractive main characters if you're not going to have something spark between them?

[Nathaniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is very misleading, Rembrandt's ghost is not relevant at all, and it's just to hook you into reading it. Do not fall for it!! The plot is completely ridiculous, it starts off with a mysterious painting, but then sidetracks into looking for treasure and a missing person, before ending up on a uncharted island inhabited by the offspring of some Japanese military who still think there's a war going on. Despite all of this the book is really quite dull and a slog to get through. There's a lot of extraneous detail which would have been much better removed. I'm not interested in what sort of engine the boats have, or even reading two pages of the history of one particular vessel. Finn is very annoying, Billy is bland, and there's too many other characters. Some characters are described as 'the man with the gun' or 'the man with the scar' which is confusing. There's an early chapter devoted to some gangster type who seemed to be important for the storyline but who was never mentioned again. So many things are mentioned once or twice and then dropped, it's really hard to keep up with. The constant slagging off of London and the British in general at the start is really off-putting too.

[Gina Lento · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book had been sitting on our shelves for a while. I bought the first one because we were missing that one. This series isn’t bad. They aren’t great literature but then neither were comic books but many of us love them. I thought it was a good “beach read” novel. It has adventure and along the way I looked up some of the locations on Google. That was fun!

At the time this was written, smart phones and Google maps aren’t what they are today and I wondered how long anything can remain remote and untouched with today’s tech.

I gave it 4 stars because although it’s not great literature, it’s not bad and it was a quick read which is why I chose it. I did get confused about the pirate characters but that was my fault because it was a busy month for me and I went a few days without reading it.

The ending isn’t far fetched because there are many stories like that where families hid money or valuables.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst I enjoyed this book as a light read there were certain aspects that stopped me giving it 5 stars. On a couple of occasions a chapter is ended on what could be described as a cliffhanger only for the next chapter to start with the action having jumped over the events with a brief explanation of how the hero survived. I found this quite irritating it was almost like “oh no the hero is dead” - oh no she’s not.
Other than that it was a reasonable read.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third of the Finn Ryan series is alright. As in not bad, not fabulous. The first two of the series had much more in ties to art and artists, and that is what I missed in this one. Especially since the particular artist is Rembrandt. The novel is still a captivating, action-packed page-turner. Just didn’t measure up, in my humble opinion. Still worth the read!

[John Wilkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave four stars because in order to get to the good historical, investigative, adventure thriller stuff, you have to get through the slagging off of London and the British in general. I know neither is perfect, but neither is anywhere else in the world, really. Not 100%.

[Tory Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun adventure featuring Finn Ryan, an artist and sometimes archeologist. Finn receives a painting that leads to a mysterious island filled with fierce natives and unbelievable treasure. Set aside reality and enjoy a wild adventure.

[Bookish Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Felt like it flipped alot that as a fairly new reader didn't keep my attention like why was I reading about a woman in her office then the next breath I'm reading about Somalian pirates 🤷🏻‍♀️ I know eventually there would be a reason. But it was just a lot for me. 😔

[Ronn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly my type of adventure/action/mystery novel. But I cant say it didnt keep me turning pages.

[markloughe · Rating 5 out of 5]

More turns than a cobra

[james o.hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting!

[Mark Deisenroth]

Another decent book

This is a other decent book in the series. Not as good as the previous one but still a worthy read.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

A completely unbelievable plot but an easy read. Don't expect character development or anything resembling reality. If you are looking for a few hours of light entertainment then it's OK.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finn finds herself in line for a fortune in inheritance with one other. It's involved with Rembrandt and a chain of events that includes a part of her family tree she didn't know existed.

[David Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent adventure story. A little slow to start off with, but enough to keep you interested and then the pace picks up and doesn't disappoint.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very convoluted and complex story. As usual, there is an unexpected ending bug, overall, this wasn't his best book.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are, apparently, still pirates in the Sulu sea.

I found this confusing, jumping everywhere, too many destinations.....also fairly implausible. I know its fiction but, really?

[Phil Hodgkiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange start to a good read. Wasn't too sure I would like this but yes, it intrigued me.

[Alf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as his other books.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story just doesn’t make sense

[Amy Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I read several Goodreads reviews before I started, so that might have slightly tainted by view of the book before I read a word of it. That being said, I did not recall seeing much in the book that was the subject of some of the more harsh reviews. Overall, I enjoyed the characters, but felt that too much time was spent on developing the back story of some secondary characters (who ended up not figuring into things at the end), and not enough time developing the main characters. (Although, I believe this is not the first time these characters appear, so perhaps more back story is in other books.) My first thought upon completing the book was "meh" and that I would likely not read another. However, after thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided that while I was not overly impressed with some aspects of it, the book was a good "beach read" - enjoyable plot, doesn't require too much thought, seemed to move quick enough - that I would probably pick up another of his books while on a trip or when I need something to "tide me over" between other novels.

[Patrick Gannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven but entertaining and wildly imaginative.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I will admit I was entertained yet again by a Paul Christopher book.

But the situations that Finn Ryan and the other characters get into, and manage to get out of....are just kind of hard to believe, if you know what I mean.

The old "Murder, She Wrote" TV series comes to mind, where crimes seem to follow the main character, Jessica Fletcher around.....

You almost wonder if the character is jinxed, attracts bad luck (guess that is like jinxed, right?), causes the event, or commits the crimes....

Anyway, I did get entertained. If you can set aside really thinking deeply about what is going on, pick up the book and give it a whirl.