The Genius

by Jesse Kellerman

A tenant has disappeared in a New York slum, leaving behind strange, original artwork. Gallery owner Ethan Muller can see its brilliance—and money-making potential. When Ethan displays the art, the show attracts the attention of the police. Because the subjects of the pictures look exactly like the victims in a long-cold murder case. Ethan has received a letter saying stop, stop, stop. And the still-missing genius may be the link to a madman—or the madman himself.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Art, Suspense

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 10, 2008

About the author

Jesse Kellerman was born in Los Angeles in 1978. His award-winning plays have been produced throughout the United States and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Most recently, he received the Princess Grace Award, given to America’s most promising young playwright. He lives with his wife in New York City.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethan Muller is put in charge of a collection... did I say a collection, more like a mountain of same sides pieces of art, when it suddenly dawns on him, that the 1000s of pieces, make up a an immeasurable sized single piece of art! Investigating the missing artist and the artwork itself reveals darkness and abuse inside and outside the Mueller family.

A purposeful and confident mystery crime thriller saga, spanning four decades and also the entire family history of the now rich Mueller family, from their immigration from Germany to the current time. The book is primarily set in New York, and around modern art! A pretty good read that gets into the underbelly of secrets and lies.... otherwise know as family. A book that I had to immediately reread, after uploading the earlier version of this review . A strong 8 out of 12, Four Star read status.

2020 and 2009 read

[Mike Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story. Art dealer Ethan Muller investigates the mystery behind a missing Artist and his vast collection of works left in a slum building. There appears to be a linkage to a serial killer of young boys many years before.

Great writing style - sarcastic and witty. Ethan is at pains to tell the reader that he is not writing a detective story but that appears to be what transpires.

The book blurb says it will appeal to those who liked The Interpretation of Murder by Jeb Rubenfeld. I enjoyed both books.

[Arie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always fun to read books set in the art world. So much is recognisable, but always in caricature, and this one was a pretty good one.

I did think that the main character/narrator was kind of a prick, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment at all.

[Caro the Helmet Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly and really good, especially for the randomly picked book that I didn't even intend to read. But I checked first ten pages and I was sucked in. A page turner, it's what it was. It was just so well written.

The story includes many seemingly uncombinable subjects, such as art and art selling business, family secrets, madness, a hunt for a pedophile, daddy issues, and some other things, more or less. The intrigue was well twisted. At the same time it managed to be witty and funny. Although funny was a bit of confusing at times, for my tastes. And I'm not even sure if it's more of a crime story or family drama, because it all works for a mix well shaken.

Almost perfect one night stand weekend read.

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author: Jesse Kellerman
Published: 2008
Recommended for: fans of crime fiction

This book took me a little while to get into it and understand it, but once I did I was hooked on it! I haven't read a book by Jesse Kellerman before or his parents so I was new to his style of writing but it certainly kept my attention throughout the book and it is one that does stick in your mind.
The pace of the book is kept up throughout it doesn't have a lull in it where you think if you should continue with it or not. It does contain alot of unexpected twists and turns which keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing. Even though this book contains two stories that at first seem seperate end up twisting together nicely at the very end, you have the story of Ethan Muller who is an art dealer and then you also have the story of Victor Cracke, who is one of the most essential characters in the book.
The way that Jesse Kellerman has described the characters gies you a real sense of who they are, they have alot of depth too them which draws the reader in as it makes the characters seem real. It is excellently written and one that I would happily read again and again. I am glad that I stumbled across this book and I would definately recommend people to read this book!

[Karine Mon coin lecture · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une presque relique de ma pile que celui-ci et j'ai bien fait de le sortir de là car je suis toujours friande de romans où il est question d'art. Ici, une caricature de cet univers bien réussie, une narration intéressante et un personnage principal imbu de lui-même mais pris malgré lui dans une histoire qui le dépasse.

Bref, un bon moment de lecture. ,

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, it kind of surprises me that this book has such a low average rating. I will admit I haven't read any of Jesse Kellerman's other stuff, and haven't read most of the stuff by the rest of his family either. But I really enjoyed this novel.

It wasn't really a thriller, and it was sort of incidentally a murder mystery. But it was a great mystery in general, and the story was enthralling. I thought so anyway. The way it slowly unfolded really had me guessing. I guessed that all sorts of people would turn out to be the person threatening Ethan. I suspected, at various times:

-Samantha
-Tony Wexler
-Ethan's dad
-Victor Cracke
-Samantha's dad
-Marylin

Of course I was way off, and the guy who turned out to be the stalker/attacker wasn't anyone important in the story. But I liked that I had no clue.

I was also relieved when Victor turned out not to be the murderer. The guy himself was pretty creepy.

I love the idea of decades-old serial killing crimes being solved.

The idea of those Cracke drawings ending up on eBay was quite amusing to me, esp. after Ethan's dad had paid millions to get the drawings back from Hollister.

Anyway...basically, I thought this was great, and maybe it didn't have a dramatic ending...but I don't think it was ever meant to.

Plus, the writing in general was impeccable. I've moved onto another book whose writing just can't compare, and I'm finding myself disappointed. ;)

[Okenwillow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encore une découverte magnifique ! Le thriller artistique !
Le narrateur, marchand d’art qui cherche encore sa voie, s’adresse directement au lecteur et annonce la couleur par un mea culpa. Plus qu’un thriller, il s’agit surtout d’un roman psychologique et social, une quasi-saga sur la filiation, l’héritage, le destin, et l’art. Ethan est un personnage très recherché, et très crédible, on plonge dans son monde du marché de l’art sans être englouti, on reste dans l’intrigue d’un bout à l’autre. Le récit est entrecoupé d’« interludes » qui nous en apprennent beaucoup sur la famille d’Ethan. L’évolution de l’enquête est tout à fait originale, la mise en place change de l’ordinaire et les personnages sont très fouillés, réalistes, les clichés sont, à mon sens, évités, et les rapports plutôt cohérents. Si l’on considère la teneur familiale du propos, on n’est pas loin de l’analyse familiale. Une dynastie partie de rien, avec ses secrets et ses non-dits, et une sordide série de meurtres d’enfants. La base originale tient ses promesses et ses développements sont pour le moins inattendus. Le dénouement n’est pas tout à fait un happy end et c’est tant mieux, l’émotion du final ne se situe pas où on aurait pu bassement le croire.
Un roman saisissant, un thriller atypique, et qui me fait beaucoup penser à Seul le silence, d’Ellory.

[Laura T · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS is a great book. I grabbed it randomly off the shelf at the library, pushing the stroller with my two year old inside, just grabbing stuff so I could get out of there before the baby got cranky and hoping for the best. Which--crazily enough--I got. This book is about the art world, which I know nothing about, so I was concerned, but I had no reason to be. Jesse Kellerman does a beautiful job explaining, but not over explaining. The characters in this book are extremely well drawn, the dialogue is refreshingly real...my one and only complaint is that in much of the dialogue, questions are asked, but no question marks are used. The questions are used as statements. I would have no problem with that if it was one character with that sort of speech pattern, but it's all of them. In my experience, there are SOME people who talk like that, but certainly not everyone I know. Other than that very small thing, I LOVED this book.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It Grows on You

This is the third book I've read by the Kellerman scion. Book #1- hated. Couldn't finish it. Book #2-enjoyed. And now....The Genius. Oh god, after the first several chapters I wondered why I had given the wrier anotber chance. Should I throw in tbe towel? But first, I decided to see if other Goodreads readers felt as I did. Instead , there was praise! I decided to soldier on and next thing I knew, I was captivated. So give it a chance, get past the slow and disjointed beginning. It may not be a work of genius but The Genius is worth the attention.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a well plotted and enjoyable read. I really liked the use of the different timescales and the use of a narrator, even if he and many of the other characters were very flawed.

[Lisa Santoniccolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Elsa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plutôt un intriguant portrait de famille qu'un palpitant polar

Avec "Les visages", on débute par un polar et on finit par un roman dramatique. Ethan Muller dirige une galerie d'art et fait partie de ces gens assez suffisant, hautains qu'on a du mal à apprécier. Sans compter que c'est le rejeton rebelle d'une grande dynastie américaine, définitivement fâché avec son père. Jusqu'au jour où on lui demande de venir dans un appartement vide où se trouve d'étranges dessins. Ce sont des dizaines de milliers de feuilles, gribouillées et coloriées durant presque 40 ans, aux dessins naïfs mais aussi cruels. Ethan s'en empare, monte une exposition et décroche un joli succès, jusqu'au jour où quelqu'un reconnait dans les visages dessinés, des enfants assassinés 40 ans auparavant. Ce départ est assez étrange, on a du mal à apprécier le héros et son petit monde, ses réflexions au lecteur. De nombreux clichés émaillent le récit (le flic à la retraite, la fille du flic dont on tombe amoureux...). Pourtant, l'auteur présente un récit entrecoupé de flash-back où est décrit l'arrivée de la famille Muller sur le nouveau continent, la montée dans la haute société, la réussite, les défaillances des différentes générations qui arrivent jusqu'à Ethan Muller. Je dois avouer que j'ai été presque plus intéressées par ces descriptions historiques que par les quelques rares paragraphes palpitants de l'enquête. Car d'enquête policière, il n'y a point. C'est en réalité la quête des origines qui clôt ce récit.

A lire donc, en imaginant que l'intrigue policière n'est qu'un prétexte à un étrange et fascinant portrait de famille américaine.

[Ian Mapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

My advice to anyone reading this is to concentrate - especially during the interludes.

The inerludes kind of ruin the book as a narrative structure but are used in a hamfisted fashion by the author to explain the backstory.

Its a shame - as most of the book plays with the form of a detective novel and is told in the first person - with the art dealer Ethan Muller talking directly to the reader and explaining why he isnt exaggerating and why the usual forms of a detective thriller (murders, chases, etc) are not present in the book.

Then there are these interludes telling the backstory of the family. They give the appearance of being tacked on to move things along. You do need to pay attention, even though they dont work, as the books secrets and histories are revealed through characters that you dont really know, as they are not in the main of the story.

The story is decent enough - art dealer finds a collection of drawings that form a massive tapestry of an imagined world. The artist lives in one of his fathers rented apartments - so he takes them and sells them. It then is revealed that some of the people in the drawings are child murder victims from the 50s and 60s.

Through the interludes, it is revealed as to who the artist is and how his life is entangled with Ethans.

Plenty of promise but the book ranged for me from really holding my attention, to me admiring how the stories came together but ultimately not quite liking the style.

Would definately read more of the author.

[Noel G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well i was torn between a 3 and a 4 star for this one. In fact whilst writing this i have changed it to a 4!

Very in depth and strange plot but i have to admit that i was gripped by the strangeness. Not so sure about the style of writing but it allow some of the mystery to be slowly released without cluttering up one chapter with different times in the past, which may become confusing.

As detective stories go it was entertaining, if a little predictable. I in fact had pre-empted the twist about halfway through. But i still kept reading and it didnt detract from my enjoyment too much at all. I still would have preferred a bit more at the end to close the story off better but all in all it was a good read, but i couldnt say it's necessarily one that i would read again and again.

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started off promising... but there were a few too many stretches in the plot for it to be even remotely believable.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Look I am a Kellerman fan, loved his mum's writing and his dad's so I knew it would be worth the read and I don't think I was wrong. The plot was great and the ending even better

[Imene Fenniche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ça m’a pris un peu de temps pour entrer dans ce récit et accrocher à l’intrigue mais une fois que je fus bien dedans, je dois avouer qu’il est devenu dur à lâcher. Ce roman contient deux histoires qui semblent distinctes mais qui en réalité se rejoignent et n’en sont qu’une seule. Jesse Kellerman a une écriture très claire qui permet de se faire une idée précise des personnages et du déroulement de l’histoire. J’ai beaucoup apprécié et j’aimerai découvrir ses autres titres.

[Kyra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Blind Date Book I received and I’m not really sure what to think about it?

[Lance Greenfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original, but hardly compelling

This book is very difficult for me to discuss, as I am still not sure whether I like it or not. At times the writing is great, and I cannot wait to find out what happens next. At other times, I found myself saying, "Well, that's totally ridiculous!" and laying the book to one side until I could return with a little more enthusiasm.

There are a few intriguing twists and turns along the way, so one would expect an unpredictable ending. Not so. The last few chapters lead to some fairly predictable conclusions.

However, I would still recommend it as light reading, and there is a good story buried within the pages.

One thing to look out for though: when you come to the discovery of the drawings, do a quick calculation. How long would it take an artist to draw this number of pieces if he were to produce, say, three per day? These are described as being very detailed works of art, so I could not imagine that the artist could sustain a higher rate of output and have time for any other activities in their life. Look at the number, and work it out for yourself!

[Yves Gounin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ce roman policier a eu l'an passé un énorme succès en France.
Je ne suis pas sûr de bien comprendre pourquoi.
Son héros est un marchand d'art new-yorkais héritier d'une richissime famille. Il découvre dans un appartement perdu d'une cité HLM une collection exceptionnelle de dessins. Seul problème : sur l'un d'entre eux apparaissent les visages enfantins des victimes de crimes pédophiles irrésolus.
L'enquête de notre héros est entrecoupé de flash-back sur l'histoire de sa famille, immigrée d'Allemagne au XIXème siècle enrichie dans l'immobilier. pendant 300 pages on se demande ce qui relie les deux récits avant que, comme de bien entendu, les deux intrigues ne convergent.
Tout cela n'est pas si mal troussé et tient en haleine durant un long voyage en train ou une nuit d'insomnie. L'adaptation cinéma sera sans doute excellente (je verrais bien Daniel Radcliffe, le héros de Harry Potter, dans le rôle principal). Pour autant, ce livre ressemble trop à un épisode de "Cold case" écrit par un journaliste d'Art in America pour mériter les lauriers qu'on lui a tressés.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the mystery threaded through this story, I also liked the way the author took us back in time and showed us the Muller family history. Showing the reader where Ethan Muller came from allowed us to better understand his relationship with his family, especially his father. I liked that we got to see a little slice of life from each generation and the supporting characters had the spotlight for a brief period of time. All of the characters were really well imagined and the outcome of the story was very realistic.

[Clarabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le tort de l'éditeur aura été, probablement, de ranger ce livre en tant que thriller, je trouve que c'est surestimé car l'ensemble relève plutôt du roman noir et poisseux. Le milieu de l'art est judicieusement exploité, même s'il ne m'a pas semblé follement glamour non plus. Cela reste un roman qui se lit, avec une intrigue sordide, accablé toutefois par du blabla insipide. Il y a du bon et du moins bon, en somme.

[Holly Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked this more than I thought I would - i dont have the first clue about the art world so this a rogue one for me. the breaking of the fourth wall was quite annoying and I don’t really know what it added. the final outcomes and relations I honestly had to draw a little family tree I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the connection when it was explained to me (NEPHEW). felt like they touched on some things and then went into depth on other less interesting things (Marilyn - irrelevant). Also idk when this book was written but do we really need to use the word mongoloid over and over again we get the gist move on xx

[Yousra & Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'ai lu ce livre cet été lors du #AidReadathon : un marathon de lecture que j'ai lancé pendant la semaine de vacances du Eid (fête religieuse marocaine/arabe).
C'était mon premier Jesse Kellerman mais aussi ma première saga familiale (je crois). Et verdict : j'ai adoré le livre et je me suis découvert une passion pour ce genre littéraire.
J'ai tellement hâte de lire d'autres livres du même auteur, surtout s'ils sont aussi intelligemment écrit que celui-ci et regorgent de références artistiques.

[Barbara Girardet · Rating 4 out of 5]

4✨: Bon livre avec une intrigue originale et bien ficelée, je me suis retrouvée dans cet univers urbain de banlieue. Quoi qu’un peut long, les retours dans le passé et la résolution finale ont été très bien réalisés! Attention aux TW (pedoph**ie, meurtres) mais qui sont tout de même peu présents et ne constituent pas le fond de l’histoire.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when it first came out years ago. I remember thinking he wrote even better than his father.

[Koen De Feyter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lezen ! Nu !

[Lynsey Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

very enjoyable read.

[Gillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this bit of a different style. Two storylines working along with each other.