The Forger's Requiem

Forgers #3

by Bradford Morrow

“Like the love child of Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle . . . delightful to read.”—NPR, on The Forgers

A gripping literary thriller that brings readers inside the world of expert forgery, rivalrous fury, and generations of dark family secrets, with Mary Shelley’s voice and life woven throughout

Literary forger Henry Slader, assaulted and presumed dead by his longtime nemesis, Will, awakens in a shallow grave, suffocating in dirt. Concussed and disoriented, Slader exhumes himself and sets out to exact revenge on his rival, orchestrate Will’s downfall, and make a fortune along the way—armed with a devastating secret about Will’s past.

Slader quickly draws in Will’s daughter, Nicole, wielding his threats against her father to blackmail her into forging inscriptions by such authors as Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. As Nicole’s skill grows, so does her devotion to—and doubts about—her father’s integrity, until she commits the ultimate betrayal for the sake of his freedom. With breathtakingly precise background knowledge and virtuoso execution, Nicole forges a suite of brilliantly convincing and surpassingly valuable letters by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley—planting within them the seeds of Slader’s doom.

Moving between upstate New York, a village in Ireland, London, and ending in a shocking standoff at the site of Mary Shelley’s grave in a coastal town in Southern England, The Forger’s Requiem is both a compelling standalone novel and the crescendo ending to the trilogy Joyce Carol Oates has called “lethally enthralling to read.”

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Adult Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 14, 2025

About the author

Bradford Morrow has lived for the past thirty years in New York City and rural upstate New York, though he grew up in Colorado and lived and worked in a variety of places in between. While in his mid-teens, he traveled through rural Honduras as a member of the Amigos de las Americas program, serving as a medical volunteer in the summer of 1967. The following year he was awarded an American Field Service scholarship to finish his last year of high school as a foreign exchange student at a Liceo Scientifico in Cuneo, Italy. In 1973, he took time off from studying at the University of Colorado to live in Paris for a year. After doing graduate work on a Danforth Fellowship at Yale University, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to work as a rare book dealer. In 1981 he relocated to New York City to the literary journal Conjunctions, which he founded with the poet Kenneth Rexroth, and to write novels. He and his two cats divide their time between NYC and upstate New York.

Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.

Reviews

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher for promotional purposes.

This book is technically the last book in a trilogy but can be read as a standalone. I have not read the previous two books and was able to follow the story. Reading the other books would have been helpful, but it was not necessary.

I enjoyed the writing style the most. It was elegant and felt like a throwback to classic literature. Given that this book centers on literary forgery of classic authors, the writing style was perfect.

As for the characters, I loved the main character, Nicole. She really is the star of this book.

Since Nicole is forging Mary Shelley letters, a fair chunk of the book discusses Mary Shelley and her book Frankenstein. I haven’t read Frankenstein but it is on my TBR and I have always been fascinated by her. I loved learning more about Shelley and her life. I think this book will be what pushes me to finally read Frankenstein.

This book is categorized as a literary thriller, however, it is a little light on any thriller aspects.

Lastly, I want to share a quote about handwriting that I absolutely loved. Nicole states, “printing doesn’t have the same almost sexual feel that writing does, where the hand embraces the pen, the pen touches the skin of the paper, the ink flows out-“ (pg. 214). I’ve always found handwritten things to be far more intimate than anything printed and this quote just sums it up perfectly!

Overall, this was an interesting literary thriller exploring the world of forgery!

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent book, but not as good I had hoped. Earlier this year I read a previous book by Morrow and thoroughly enjoyed it and anticipated this one would be at the same caliber but it fell a little short.

Perhaps one reason for me was this is the last book in a trilogy. Yet I did not know this until I finished reading the book. If I started from book one my experience may have been somewhat different.

I did find a few hiccups in the beginning, as there are not clear chapter breaks in the copy I was reading. There were sudden changes in locations and who was speaking in the alternating first person POV. It was jarring until realizing this was the format after a few times of encountering this. Not only are there changes in location, but also the timeline switches around a little. It didn’t make for easy reading. After a while I got it figured out and that settled and the book made more sense while reading.

The book felt like it attempted to be a mystery, but it is not. There was a murder (maybe a major plot point in a previous book?) but the culprit really is known. The main content of the book is also about forgeries. Will and Nicole Diehl are father and daughter and have done forgeries in the past. Will has sworn that off as a way to make a living and has found a legal way to earn a living. Nicole is more of a painter anyway, and only dabbled in forgery as an imitation of her father. Yet their nemesis Henry Slader is blackmailing and forcing more forgeries. Slader is a prominent POV.

I did find it interesting that in the beginning of reading this book I found both sides sympathetic Slader and the Diehl’s, although as the book continues it is clear who is the true villain.

If I didn’t have an already way too long list of books to read I might be tempted to go and read the first too books in this trilogy.

Book rating: 3.5 stars


Thanks to the Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy prior to publication.

[Grace Clawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this text for my review.

There wasn't really a lot to write home about with this one. I was promised a thriller but was just met with another random guy who narrates like he would talk over me at a bar. The pacing was a little strange, and I think that there could have been a few plot points that could have threaded into the storyline a little bit. This wasn't really a book to write home about because it didn't exactly motivate me to read.

[TC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended.

Review posted at Tzer Island book blog:

https://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/2...

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago, I visited a small museum that housed a private collection of rare and antique books. On the second floor, tucked away without any pomp or circumstance, was a first edition of Mary Shelley's The Last Man. Reader, I wept when I saw it. So it goes without saying that I was immediately, profoundly in for Bradford Morrow's THE FORGER'S REQUIEM.

The book begins where its predecessors left us, following the entangled lives of three very skilled but very different forgers. In fact, it begins with a man awakening after having been buried alive - a very nice nod to Edgar Allen Poe. Henry Slader, left for dead in a shallow grave in the woods by his foe, knows precisely how to enact his revenge - by pulling Will's daughter in with blackmail against her father. Nicole, an artist and gifted forger in her own right, acquiesces. She deeply respects her father, bonded through their love of literature. Slader's ask? Forge yearning, forlorn letters between Mary Shelley and her mother who died after childbirth. After that, he will disappear from their lives.

Can Nicole complete this unimaginable task without her family, especially her beloved father, discovering the blackmail ? Will Slader actually accept the forgeries and fade into the shadows? Well, you'll have to wait and see. And in the meantime, you'll watch as these characters become more multidimensional, their motivations less discernible, and their relationships murkier.

Perhaps the criticism that this novel isn't quite the thriller it labels itself is fair. I do wish that the final climactic moments were a bit more, well, climactic. Sometimes 20-year-old Nicole reads less as a woman today and more like a character from a period novel. This is a book written by an intelligent author about very intelligent people and sometimes the prose feels very highbrow and far from contemporary. (The few times a character uses the term 'bae' are a little big startling, honestly.) It's not perfect but books rarely are.

But seriously - I devoured this read, and if you are also the kind of reader who has Mary Shelley's grave on your list of places to visit, I think you might too.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Ella Bowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic!! especially enjoyed the acknowledgment by the author at the end which reads: “Great gratitude to my physician…for guiding me through the complex medical episodes that would follow…a concussion and being buried alive”

[Tessa1316 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5*
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this.
I almost regretted requesting this book at first. There are so many books I want to get to and this one had to be read first since it's on a time limit. But I am so glad using NetGalley 'forced' me to read this book. While I can image this isn't for everyone, it was almost perfect for me. The split POVs giving greater insight. The sassiness and purely intelligent directness that the two main characters had really made the book entertaining and flow. The events of the story really built up to a nice crescendo and once made me gasp out loud. Plus for everything to be tied up in a neat bow by way of the epilogue was just the cherry on top.

Was also a fan of the casual queer rep.

This book really suits me as a person and I also learnt a lot reading it. Will definitely buy the printed version of this when it comes out!

[Prof. Purple · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something irresistible about the forger. He is at once a criminal and an artist, a rogue and a craftsman, a figure who inhabits the margins of civilization while demonstrating an almost unsettling intimacy with its cultural foundations. He is the antihero of the intellectual world, a man who both venerates and violates the aesthetic ideals he so painstakingly imitates. In The Forger’s Requiem, Bradford Morrow crafts a novel that is as much an ode to art as it is a meditation on deception, moral ambiguity, and the weight of authenticity in a world increasingly uncertain of what is real.

A master of literary noir, Morrow has long been drawn to themes of forgery, secrecy, and erudition, and The Forger’s Requiem is no exception. Here, he extends the work he began in The Forgers, delving deeper into the shadowy realm of rare manuscripts, stolen masterpieces, and the men who dedicate their lives to either creating or counterfeiting beauty. Yet this novel is not merely a crime thriller—it is an elegant, cerebral exploration of the intersection between artistic genius and moral compromise, a book that forces the reader to consider whether the value of a work of art lies in its provenance or in the sheer brilliance of its execution.
The Plot: A Tale of Art, Crime, and Reckoning

The novel centers on Will, a gifted forger, who possesses the preternatural ability to recreate the works of history’s greatest artists and calligraphers with uncanny precision. He is an artist, albeit one who operates in the shadows, his brushstrokes indistinguishable from those of the masters whose signatures he so deftly mimics. But Will is also a man at war with himself—a forger who reveres the very thing he corrupts.

His world begins to unravel when a former accomplice, Henry Slader, reemerges, dragging him into a final, high-stakes scheme that involves not merely the replication of great works but a deception so audacious it could rewrite art history itself. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game played out in antiquarian bookshops, auction houses, and the secret chambers of collectors’ libraries, with the shadow of detection—and the burden of conscience—looming over every page.

Morrow structures the novel as a psychological thriller laced with philosophical inquiry, as Will finds himself entangled in a web of deception that extends beyond simple fraud. The narrative pulses with tension, but its true brilliance lies in the way Morrow probes the deeper questions beneath the crime: Is a forgery less beautiful simply because it is not authentic? Is the forger an artist in his own right, or merely a parasite on the work of others? And does genius justify transgression?
Thematic Depth: Authenticity, Art, and Moral Ambiguity

Beneath its elegant prose and intricate plotting, The Forger’s Requiem is, at its heart, a meditation on authenticity—both in art and in life. Morrow compels the reader to confront a question that has long vexed the art world: is a painting, a manuscript, or a rare book valuable because of who made it, or because of its intrinsic aesthetic merit?

At times, the novel almost seems to sympathize with the forger. Will’s counterfeits are not mere imitations—they are acts of artistic devotion, meticulous recreations of masterpieces lost to time. He is, in his own way, resurrecting beauty, allowing a world obsessed with the idea of rarity to appreciate works that would otherwise remain unseen. And yet, as the novel makes clear, there is an essential fraudulence to this endeavor. The forger, no matter how talented, is not creating but deceiving.

This theme resonates beyond the art world. In a society increasingly dominated by curated identities, synthetic realities, and historical revisionism, Morrow seems to suggest that forgery is not merely an art-world crime but a metaphor for the modern condition. What, after all, does it mean to be “authentic” in an era where everything, from social media personas to political narratives, can be carefully constructed and manipulated?
Morrow’s Prose: Elegance with an Edge

If there is one constant in Bradford Morrow’s work, it is the sheer literary elegance of his prose. His writing is meticulously crafted yet never ostentatious, rich in atmosphere and subtle allusions to the great literary forgers of history. He is a writer who understands that suspense does not require blunt-force action; rather, it thrives in the slow burn of psychological unease, the lingering doubt that even the most innocent gesture may be concealing something deeper.

Consider a passage in which Will contemplates the nature of his craft:

“To hold a pen and summon another man’s hand, to watch the ink dry on paper and see not one’s own words but the echoes of a lost genius—it was an act of communion, of resurrection, and, in its own way, of profound theft.”

Here, Morrow captures the seduction of forgery, the way it allows the forger to inhabit the mind of the artist he mimics. This is the novel’s central tension: is Will merely a thief, or is he something more—an artist trapped in the paradox of his own brilliance?
The Forger as an Archetype

Morrow’s forger stands in a long literary tradition that includes characters like Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley and Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s Lucas Corso (The Club Dumas). Like these figures, Will is both deeply compelling and morally compromised, a man whose intelligence and talent make him dangerous precisely because he understands the weight of his own transgressions.

But where Ripley is motivated by survival and Corso by intrigue, Will is driven by something more philosophical: an existential crisis about the nature of art itself. He does not forge for mere financial gain; he forges because he is haunted by the knowledge that his work will never be valued unless it bears another man’s name. His crime is not just deception—it is a commentary on a world that worships the past while ignoring the living artist before them.
Final Thoughts: A Literary Thriller of Rare Intelligence

In The Forger’s Requiem, Bradford Morrow has written a novel that is both thrilling and deeply thoughtful, a crime story that doubles as an intellectual inquiry into the very nature of genius and deception. It is a book that refuses easy moral resolutions, presenting a world where art, crime, and identity are inextricably intertwined.

For those who appreciate literary thrillers that are as much about ideas as they are about plot, The Forger’s Requiem is an exceptional work. It is a book for those who believe that art is more than an object—that it is, instead, a mystery, a deception, and perhaps even a kind of beautiful crime.

[KDub · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded to 4

This was interesting. I didn't realize it was the last of a trilogy until I had already requested it. That didn't turn out to be a big deal, I feel it reads fine as a standalone. I'm now compelled to read the first two novels, to get more of the backstory.

I liked learning a little about forgeries and Nicole's foray into this underground world I knew little about. Makes me wonder how many fake letters, novels, paintings, etc are out there. There was tension and intrigue and I found it very interesting. But for a short book (less than 300 pages) I found it took longer than normal to get through. Something with the pacing just felt off, even though I enjoyed the story.

Recommended for those who like suspenseful novels, classic literature, and looking up words in a dictionary.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Leane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following The Forgers (2014) and The Forger’s Daughter (2020), this final piece in this fascinating and compelling trilogy about a family of forgers, Will and his daughter Nicole (her chapters are 1st POV), and their nemesis, Henry Slader, can be read as a standalone—but I beseech you to begin with the first and enjoy reading them in quick succession, a luxury I did not have as I read them as they were published. This book continues the narrative arc which began in the first and left at the end of second (well-summarized in the third) as they await the auction of the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe's first, Tamerlane, of which only a dozen copies are known to have survived. Facing threats to his life and family, coerced by his former nemesis and fellow forger Slader, Will had to rely on the artistic skills of his older daughter Nicole to help create a flawless forgery of this stolen Tamerlane to settle his perceived debt to Slader. A murder from the first book, as well as Slader’s attack and maiming of Will also are recalled. In this final book, Nicole sets out to try and save her father while trying to figure out whether he is innocent of the murder of her uncle, finding herself tangled in Slader’s sticky web as she employs her calligraphy skills to fabricate some letters from Mary Shelley. This is a fine and authentic array of CHs with a special nod to young Maisie, Nicole’s sister, who is a precocious pre-teen. Forgery is everywhere, as a driving engine to the Plot, the CHs, and as a metaphor as the works and lives of Poe, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and Shelley’s Frankenstein and Shelley’s relationship to her dead mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, weave around and amplify Nicole’s artistic endeavors. Morrow deftly details the art of forgery, as well as its moral and ethical illegality, but also its siren song as a challenge to forgers who perceive themselves as artists of a singular kind. The author also makes cogent comparisons to the themes of Frankenstein and forgery/creation that still have me contemplating them. Fascinating. The Irish and Hudson River towns, and British locations, galleries, bookstores, and museums are stunning, adding to the sensual, cultural and everyday life of the CHs and buttressing the growing desperation and danger of the Tone. This is not a fast-paced novel, like the other two, you will want to immerse yourself in the language and enjoy Morrow’s evocative Style; however, the final chapters are page-turners as a satisfactory ending closes out the trilogy. RED FLAGS: Graphic Violence; Harm to Child. Readalikes will be hard to match directly but perhaps B.A. Shapiro’s The Art Forger will resonate with Morrow readers as Subject, CH, Setting, Tone and Style merge together. Others may be Mark Pryor’s The Bookseller (more Topic & CH/Setting; less Style); Daniel Silva’s many art forgery novels like Portrait of an Unknown Woman, Jonathan Santlofer's novels, or Erica Katz’s Fake—all more art-driven.

[Ray Palen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final novel in the Forger’s trilogy from Bradford Morrow, THE FORGER’S REQUIEM, takes on a dark literary tour once again into the lives of professional forgers of classic novels.

It opens with a horrific situation whereby a man finds himself buried alive. Once he recognizes his fate, he gets his wits about him long enough to dig out of the loosely packed dirt encasing him and works his way to freedom. Shortly thereafter we learn that the gentlemen who found himself in this terrible situation was a literary forger by the name of Henry Slader.

Slader was placed in this early grave by his two fiercest rivals, Will and his daughter Nicole. In fact, upon freeing himself from the earth Slader stumbles into the nearby home only to find a library packed with find literary classics. When he takes a few off the shelf for closer inspection, like the extremely rare novel In the Cage from Henry James, he sees a dedicated inscription on the inside that he immediately identifies as a top-notch forgery. It is at that moment when Slader realizes he is in the home of his arch-rival Will.

We next see Will’s daughter Nicole traveling with friends in Kenmare Ireland and having no idea that Slader, who she had personally whacked over the head with a shovel before being buried, was somehow still alive. Nicole reflects on her father’s sordid past a forger, which at one point saw him briefly jailed, and how she was brought into the business. Slader eventually locates Nicole and, upon revealing the fact that she and her father were unable to finish the job of eliminating him, proceeds to blackmail her into helping him out with a number of forgeries.

On the top of the list of dream forgeries is a cache of letters allegedly penned by the late author Mary Shelley. Nicole finds herself travelling to London to investigate these alleged forged letters and gets involved in deep research to authenticate them. The passages surrounding Mary Shelley and these forged letters are easily the best part of THE FORGER’S REQUIEM, and I was particularly intrigued as a lover of Mary Shelley and her work.

Slader continues to hold Nicole in the palm of his hands as he claims to have photo proof that her father had murdered her mother’s brother. This information is enough to keep Nicole doing Slader’s bidding and dig further into the Shelley case. Morrow is able to deftly plot the action of the novel by allowing Nicole to uncover certain secrets that has her questioning everything she has seen and found which provides the literary thriller elements for this novel.

THE FORGER’S REQUIEM will definitely appeal to fans of classic literature and the world of professional forgers is indeed fascinating. However, this is a slow burn of a novel which will require patience on the part of the reader to get to the jewels that are cleverly hidden beneath the surface.

Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE FORGER’S REQUIEM, which wraps up Bradford Morrow’s trilogy that began with THE FORGERS and continued with THE FORGER’S DAUGHTER, once again takes readers on a dark literary tour into the lives of professional forgers of classic novels.

Literary forger Henry Slader finds himself buried alive. Once he recognizes his fate, he gets his wits about him long enough to dig out of the loosely packed dirt encasing him and work his way to freedom. He was placed in a shallow grave by his two fiercest rivals: Will and Will’s daughter, Nicole.

Upon freeing himself from the earth, Slader stumbles into a nearby house and finds a library packed with fine literary classics. When he takes a few off the shelf for closer inspection, like the extremely rare novella IN THE CAGE by Henry James, he sees a dedicated inscription on the inside that he immediately identifies as a top-notch forgery. Slader then realizes he is in Will’s home.

We next see Nicole traveling with friends in Kenmare, Ireland, and having no idea that Slader, who she had whacked over the head with a shovel before he was buried, was somehow still alive. She reflects on her father’s sordid past, which at one point saw him briefly jailed, and how she was brought into the forgery business. Slader eventually locates Nicole and proceeds to blackmail her into helping him out with a number of forgeries.

At the top of the list of dream forgeries is a cache of letters allegedly penned by Mary Shelley. Nicole travels to London to investigate them and gets involved in deep research to authenticate them. These passages are easily the best part of the book as I am a huge admirer of Shelley and her work.

Slader continues to hold Nicole in the palm of his hands as he claims to have photographic proof that Will murdered her mother’s brother. This information is enough to keep her doing his bidding and dig further into the Shelley case. Morrow deftly plots the action by allowing Nicole to uncover certain secrets that has her questioning everything she has seen and found, which provides the book's literary thriller elements.

The world of professional forgers is indeed fascinating, and THE FORGER’S REQUIEM will appeal to fans of classic literature. However, this is a slow burn of a novel that will require patience on the part of the reader to get to the jewels that are cleverly hidden beneath the surface.

Reviewed by Ray Palen

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm the first person to rate and review this book. Ideally, I'd lavish it in praise, but realistically, it's exactly the same as its two predecessors. A three-star read through and through.
I debated not reading this at all, but I do like tale of forgeries and books, and my completist nature demanded I finish the trilogy.
Now I have. To Morrow's credit, he's consistent. All of his Forger books have the same style, mood, and quality. They are very literary in the way that the prose is sophisticated and highbrow. Yet for some reason this consistently comes at the cost of character development and actualization. Which is to say Morrow knows how to turn a sentence more than he knows how to create an engaging and believable character.
The protagonist of this one, the original forger's daughter, Nicole, at no point reads like a twenty-year-old. Her younger sister doesn't read like much of an eleven-year-old either for that matter. Nicole talks like an old British novel, calls her parents by their first names, and carries out sophisticated international literary deceptions, not to mention peculiarly passionless love affair.
There's a lot of stilted people making stilted awkward conversations. Though technically, not so much, as the novel is pretty dense, with narrative consistently winning over dialogue.
The only more or less believable character is the antagonist, Slader. In fact, the opening scene of his crawling out of the grave, having been buried alive, is the novel's best, by far.
It stands to mention that just about all of the characters carry on like they are in an old British novel, which makes mentions of the US geography disorienting.
While the novel leaves you wanting in character department, it excels in the field of details. From forgery descriptions to literary backstory (this one involves a certain prodigy who gave the world Frankenstein), it's all fascinating, well-researched, and a treat for fans of "books about books."
So, something of a mixed bag. Not great, but solidly decent throughout, a reasonably quick read. Now the trilogy is complete. Done. Moving on. Thanks Netgalley.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe I was promised a literary thriller?

As I was browsing NetGalley, I saw something about rare books, forgeries, and Mary Shelley. Let’s press that “request” button at once!

Ok, so somebody wakes up buried alive, but manages to get out, with amnesia and injuries. “When he tried to scream, his screams were just ideas of screams.” Me: That’s a lot of screams in one sentence! I wonder how this particular read will go…

The guy that got buried alive is named Henry Slader. He is a literary forger who ran afoul of another forger (Will) and his daughter Nicole (who is a talented forger too, what a surprise). Everyone has skeletons in the closet, and lots of family and other secrets will come to light during the course of this book. After revealing that he isn’t dead after all, Slader sort of blackmails Nicole to help him with various forgeries, as well as the forgery of a lifetime – “newly discovered” letters of Mary Shelley. A retired detective, Pollock, shows up, as a cold case, the murder of Nicole’s uncle that happened twenty years ago, will not let him rest. Etc, etc, etc.

There is an interesting story here. Somewhere. Buried deep.

It is buried beneath:

😩 the writing that I could not stomach
😩 unnecessary details
😩 telling without showing
😩 meandering plot
😩 stuff happening out of the blue
😩 hanging threads explained in “oh, by the way” sentences
😩 romance that is just suddenly there
😩 literary allusions badly glued on (what kind of person quotes Emily Dickinson when going to dig up a grave to check if the supposedly dead person is still there???)
😩 the excruciating boredom I felt while reading

When Nicole went to London to do research on Mary Shelley for her forgery project, the book became better for a short while. These pages belonged in a better novel. Reading about Mary Shelley was interesting, and I would like to read more at some point. There was that, at least.
Finishing the book was a chore! I am glad it was short.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! (Sorry it didn’t work out.)

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
To live was to lie, he decided. Such was the price of being human. In the end, all people were forgers. from The Forger’s Requiem by Bradford Morrow

I am late to the party, reading the last installment in a trilogy. But I am happy to say that The Forger’s Requiem works as a stand alone novel. The backstory is presented in a natural way in the narrative.

The novel’s opening scene is riveting, a hook that goes deep and won’t let go. A man comes to and realizes he is unable to breath or move, that he has been buried alive, saved only by a small pocket of air. He crawls his way out, his head aching, fingers charred, his memory foggy. It takes some time for him to piece together what had happened as he crawls and stumbles out of the woods.

Eventually he comes to an empty house, breaks in, treats his injuries. It is the house of the people who had tried to kill him and hide his body.

Henry Slader had incriminating photographs and was blackmailing Will. Will’s daughter saw Slader come at her father with a knife and hit Slader on the head.

Slader was a forger of rare books and manuscripts. Will was, too,before he served a prison term for literary forgery. But Will owed Slader.

Nicole had learned forgery from her dad. Slader demands Nicole create forgeries for him to sell in exchange for photographic proof that her father murdered her mother’s brother.

Slader in hiding reinvents himself over and over while Nicole travels abroad to study Mary Shelley in preparation for forging letters from Mary to her deceased mother, keeping her father in the dark about her plans.

But things are revealed that challenge the truth Nicole wanted to believe.

I enjoyed the writing and learning insider details about literary forgeries. The story is told from Slader’s and Nicole’s viewpoints, allowing insights. I found it an entertaining read.

I previously enjoyed Morrow’s novel The Prague Sonata.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review: The Forger's Requiem by Bradford Morrow

Rating: 3 Stars

I recently finished The Forger's Requiem by Bradford Morrow, and it didn't quite hit the sweet spot for me. This story follows Henry Slader, a literary forger who finds himself in a precarious situation after a brutal confrontation with his long-time rival, Will. Awakening in a shallow grave (yikes!), Slader manages to dig himself out and sets off on a quest for revenge, fueled by a dark secret about Will that could bring him down while also lining Slader’s pockets.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the plot is how Slader manipulates Will’s daughter, Nicole, into helping him forge inscriptions from literary giants like Poe and Hemingway. As she gets deeper into the world of forgery, her loyalties are tested, leading to a shocking betrayal that reveals just how tangled their lives have become. The book takes us on a journey through various locations—from upstate New York to the coastal town in Southern England where Mary Shelley rests—culminating in a gripping finale at her grave.

Now, let's talk about the cover. It’s absolutely gorgeous! I was immediately drawn to it, and it definitely adds an aesthetic charm to the reading experience. However, I must admit that I went into this book without realizing it was the final installment of a trilogy. Perhaps if I had read the first two books, I would have appreciated the characters and their arcs more fully. As it stands, I felt like I was diving into a complex narrative without all the context.

Overall, The Forger's Requiem has its captivating moments and is certainly well-crafted, but it left me feeling a bit disconnected. If you’re a fan of literary thrillers and appreciate intricate plots, you might find a lot to admire here—but be sure to start from the beginning of the trilogy for the full experience!

⚠️This review was written based on personal opinions and experiences with the book. Individual preferences may vary⚠️

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Forger's Requiem is a gripping literary thriller that immerses readers in the world of expert forgery, intense rivalries, and generations of deep family secrets, all intertwined with the voice and life of Mary Shelley. Although I discovered this book out of sequence (a quirky trend of mine in 2025), I was pleasantly surprised by how seamlessly I could engage with the story. However, reading the first book, The Forger, could provide valuable insights into the origins of these complex characters. That said, this installment stands as a gripping tale in its own right.

Our protagonist, the skilled literary forger Henry Slader, faces a shocking turn of fate when he is assaulted and left for dead by his relentless enemy, Will. Yet, in a stunning twist, Slader awakens buried in a shallow grave, suffocating beneath the dirt. Concussed and disoriented, Slader manages to dig himself out and sets out to exact revenge on Will, plan his downfall, and amass a fortune—all while holding a devastating secret about Will’s past.

As Slader lures Will’s daughter, Nicole, into his dangerous game, he blackmails her into forging inscriptions from literary legends like Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. As Nicole’s talent flourishes, so do her conflicting feelings about her father’s ethics. Torn between loyalty and doubt, she ultimately commits an unthinkable betrayal in a bid for his freedom. With rich background knowledge and masterful execution, Nicole crafts an extraordinary suite of forged letters from Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, setting the stage for Slader’s inevitable demise. The Forger's Requiem is both a compelling standalone novel and the crescendo ending to the trilogy Joyce Carol Oates has called lethally enthralling to read.

[Victoria Colotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE FORGER'S REQUIEM is a smartly crafted thriller that deals with secrets, blackmail, and forgery. Morrow manages to have a contemporary novel with the atmosphere and mood of a great historical gothic thriller.

There is something so wonderful about reading a book with characters like Henry (or whatever he chooses to call himself) and Will that are clever, talented, and unscrupulous. They add to the intrigue and push the narrative forward. They seemed to me to be grandiose characters with big ideas and even more repercussions to those plans set in motion. And then there is Nicole. She offsets their personalities in a way that is honest and real. Her quest to learn about Mary Shelley for the forgeries she is being forced to create gifts the reader with a different experience. She balances out the more menacing vibes of her father and his nemesis.

From the opening scene where Slader emerges from a shallow grave to Nicole’s introduction to the complex web of secrets of her family, this tale hooked me. It has the perfect balance of mystery, emotion, and literary references. I loved this book.

Reviewer Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Highly Caffeinated Rating of… ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ + 1/2

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[Willy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Literary forger Henry Slader unexpectedly finds himself in an Edgar Allan Poe story when he, concussed and bruised, awakens in a shallow grave. Shakily digging himself out, Slader gradually remembers that Will, his old rival, and his daughter, Nicole, assaulted him with a shovel after a deal involving the forgery of a rare Poe book went bad. Determined to avenge himself on Will (20 years of bad blood between the two men includes a violent attack that landed Slader in prison) and needing to raise cash, Slader blackmails Nicole, a budding artist and a talented forger, threatening to expose her father’s role in the unsolved murder of her uncle. After forging inscriptions by such authors as Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, Nicole is tasked with creating a cache of letters by Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, a valuable trove that will enable Slader to retire permanently from the forgery business. But even the best-laid plans can go astray. A shocking climax at Mary Shelley’s grave in Bournemouth, England, leads a stunned Nicole to wonder what “drives people to such lunacy.” Toggling between Slader’s third-person perspective and Nicole’s first-person narrative, Morrow offers fascinating insights into the literary forger’s art. Although this is the concluding volume to the author’s trilogy (The Forgers, The Forger’s Daughter), it can be read as a dark, twisty standalone thanks to plenty of backstory.

[goldrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

GUYS THIS BOOK WAS SO FUCKING BORING DON'T READ IT. why did the library reccomend it for the plot there is literally no plot. also apparently its a book in a series but you literally do not have to know anything about the first book cause it gives you all that information anyways.

what i liked:
- nicole is pretty cool i guess

what i didn't like:
- IT WAS SO BORING. half of it is nicole being like "so i met with slader and he threatened me. and then i went to england. and then will called me. and then i went to this place and looked at some books. and then i did this other thing. and then i met up with renee. and then i did some more stuff. and then" and it was so boring but somehow less boring than sladers chapters, which were just him fucking around in random small towns and doing absolutely nothing of note. like this book could have been one chapter long and it would have been just as effective.
- all the characters were boring i did not gaf about any of them
- the writer has clearly never met a lesbian before. or a girl with friends for that matter.
- it was literally a waste of my time

not even worth 1 star bro honestly.

[The_Bookworm_Chronicles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an advanced reader copy of this, prior to its publication.

I was very drawn to this book because of its title; this led me to expect a flourished writing and I was right. And I also love books about books so this should’ve been right up my alley.
I also expected this to be a thriller, but it fell kind of flat. The potential was there, but the execution wasn’t really what I hoped.
It took some time to adjust to the jump between POVs and timelines, but I got used to it eventually.
I expected more from the characters, but I found their development limited. I didn’t really feel like they moved the plot forward, even though I thought they were a good fit to it. Especially Slader, the antagonist. He felt vey believable. I sometimes appreciate more how a villain is built, than a hero.
Overall I thought this was a good book, quite a quick read for when you want a bit of mistery, but nothing that requires a lot of effort from the reader’s part to figure out what’s happening

[nik raines]

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I want to state upfront that I did DNF at 15% after realising the book was reading very slow for me.

I admit I went into The Forger’s Requiem with high hopes after reading that this was “a gripping literary thriller that brings readers inside the world of expert forgery, rivalrous fury, and generations of dark family secrets, with Mary Shelley’s voice and life woven throughout.” as stated in the blurb.

Unfortunately, the writing wasn’t a good match for my preferences, and I couldn’t get into it the way I wanted and expected to.

I’m sure this would be a huge hit for people who are more familiar with Morrow’s writing or enjoy references to the classics, but I’m sad to say this wasn’t for me.

[Mystica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Henry Slader is a literary forger par excellence. A long time feud with Will who attempts to kill him and presumed he was dead, finds Henry disoriented, concussed and suffocating in a grave. Using his wits and bits of memory coming back to him, he decides on a spot of blackmail, also changing his identity in the process to carve out a new life for himself.

Involving literal forgeries on the scale of Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley needs skills and Henry uses Nicole, Wills daughter to execute forgeries which are flawless. They also start the downward tread to Henry’s doom eventually.

There were abrupt changes in location and timelines where one had to take a moment as to what was happening but the story gives one a glimpse into the world of literary pieces and the demand to own an original letter or poetry penned by a famous person.

[Brenda Clift · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a long book, this could have been more compelling reading with a little more editing (i.e. fewer pages). A gripping start but I'm wearying of books that have no appealing protagonists. I get it that there is no real life character who is not flawed but that doesn't mean we would all stoop to violence and murder does it? I guess that there's a certain level of happy ending for the protagonist, a skilled artist who has grown up with the guidance of a forger father, when she incorporates her forger skills into her art (and gets the woman of her dreams). I struggled to find the motive for the oldest referenced murder, or the second,.....

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading all three books back to back, this is the finale. Each book has an explicitly stated theme book, this one is Frankenstein, and it attempts to give the villan in the previous two books a voice, like Frankenstein. That part is okay. However it doesn't spend sufficient time in the minds of the characters, instead narrating their actions and surface thoughts. It's a fine read, not terribly written, but certainly not as thoughtful or deep a book as calling out Mary Shelley as an inspiration would suggest.

[Jay Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last of Morrow's trilogy about a forger whose secret finally catches up w/ him. Will Diehl has built a family and a life out of the ruins of literary forgery - but his long-kept secret that will devastate his loving family will not be denied.

Prose is as elegant as the 18th to 19th century books that are the frequent source of fabrication and deceit in this novel. I especially liked the developing role of Nichole, Will's daughter - who, despite having innate talents, completes a journey of trying to help her father get out of his mess - keeping her soul intact. Lovely book.

[Ray Hubley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bumpy, at times tedious undertaking this book -- the third in a trilogy that one reviewer rather breezily pegged as 'stand-alone worthy' which it plainly isn't. Perhaps to the reader of the previous two volumes, the florid plot mechanics here may not feel so gratuitous and motivations so random.
But I'll never know. One further annoyance: the male author's repeated use of the word 'bad-assery'
to convince us of the virtues of his female protagonist.

[Michael A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A satisfying ending

As a Brad Morrow completist, I can't say enough about this work of genius that works as a plot driven page turner, but also as a contemplation on the nature of fiction and authenticaticity. It makes you love the character Nicole and the historical figure of Mary Shelley even more than you already do!

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book group picks are complicated and double-edged. While I prefer to choose, I appreciate being pushed outside my own preferences, yet… I’m not always excited about the consequence. Case in point here 🙄 I was not a fan of the subject, characters, or audible reader. I was intrigued by the life of Mary Shelley and her strength and loves. More on that would have made the book so much better.

[Catherine M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot is interesting, but flow of the story is disrupted by the misused vocabulary. It appears the author consulted a thesaurus without considering the meaning of the chosen words. This makes the book hard to get through.