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Forgers #1
The Forgers
The rare book world is stunned when a reclusive collector, Adam Diehl, is found on the floor of his Montauk home: hands severed, surrounded by valuable inscribed books and original manuscripts that have been vandalized beyond repair. Adam's sister, Meghan, and her lover, Will--a convicted if unrepentant literary forger--struggle to come to terms with the seemingly incomprehensible murder. But when Will begins receiving threatening handwritten letters, seemingly penned by long-dead authors, but really from someone who knows secrets about Adam's death and Will's past, he understands his own life is also on the line--and attempts to forge a new beginning for himself and Meg.
318 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2014
255 people are currently reading
3900 people want to read
About the author
Bradford Morrow
150 books248 followersBradford 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.
Visit his website at www.bradfordmorrow.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 457 reviews
August 21, 2017
”Book collecting,” he memorably told me, though at the time I couldn’t fully grasp his theory, “is an act of faith. It’s all about the preservation of culture, custodianship, and that’s why when I add a book to the collection I’m taking on the responsibility of keeping it safe. And then there’s the joy of the chase, of striving to find a copy of a book that helped make me who I am. But not just any copy--the copy, the most historically interesting and finest copy you can find. Most of all it’s about something I’ve never quite been able to put into words.”
How about we look to Mr. Eliot?
”These fragments I have shored against my ruins.”
The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
This book begins with a pair of severed hands.
Adam Diehl, a reclusive collector, is found nearly bled out surrounded by the trampled and torn remains of his exclusive, and expensive book collection.
His hands are never found.
His sister Meghan who runs a local bookstore is devastated because she is very close to her brother, but also because he is all the family she has left. Her boyfriend, Will, who also serves as the narrator of the story never liked Adam very much and the feeling was mutual. They should like each other. They even have the same interest in the same types of books, but see there is a factor here unknown to Meghan that creates a rivalry and a certain amount of disdain.
They are both forgers.
Will is better at it than Adam and like many perfectionists he finds it insulting that someone else would try to pass off what he can do so much better. Of course he is supposed to be reformed after he experienced a brush with the law that nearly landed him in prison.
The desire is still there.
”I would sometimes find myself physically aroused when my hand, my pen, my paper were coordinating so perfectly that a kind of calligraphic, pornographic ballet took place before my eyes.”
Will’s father was a great book collector. He was well respected and venerated in the book collecting world. In fact, the quote at the beginning of this review was his attempt to explain to his son the gentle madness of collecting. If his father had known he was defacing books with forged signatures or that he was changing literary history with his arrogantly conceived counterfeit letters and ephemera he would have been beyond disappointed. He would have felt a complete failure in his attempt to raise someone in his own image.
”Would he have had any choice other than to hand me my loathsome heart bundled up in the butcher’s paper?”
His father was always searching for a more perfect copy of a book for his library. When he did find a better copy he would even keep the inferior copy as well which is fascinating. I often do upgrade a book in my library, but usually I sell or trade the more inferior copy. It is a way to offset the cost of the upgrade and it also frees up more room on the shelves for...another book.
Now Will does see history in the same way as I do. It is all a muddled mess of half truths, but I would never be willing to add to the muddle.
”History is subjective. History is alterable. History is, finally, little more than modeling clay in a very warm room.”
Everyone strives to know singular truth, but the truth is that there are many truths. For any one truth there are several other versions just as true. A historian uses the most accepted version of the truth or makes a case for an alternative truth that he believes or wants to believe is more true.
It is one thing to add thoughts believed to be true to the narrative, but it is quite another to manufacture them from whole cloth.
I’m with Will’s father regarding his activities. Bring me the butcher’s paper.
When Will starts to receive threatening letters, cleverly written in the style and penmanship of Henry James he knows that his secrets are known by someone who holds all the threads of his life.
This starts a desperate search for solutions that will hopefully appease his accuser and keep his secrets safe.
This book may not be a five star book for most other people, but I have to give Bradford Morrow credit for writing a pitch perfect novel about the book business. Most books I’ve read about the subjects of book collecting or working in a bookstore ring falsely for me. I can assure those that are interested in books beyond just the words they hold that Morrow knows his stuff. I often found myself feeling a tingle as he made connections that only the “gently mad” will understand. Speaking of Gently Mad, Nicholas A. Basbanes, a hero of mine, also endorsed this book.
The character of Will is so interesting because I couldn’t help liking him and loathing him in equal measure. Both diametrically opposed aspects of my feelings about him were tangled in almost every thought I had regarding his behavior. Forgeries are hanging on walls in museums and are locked up under glass in prestigious universities all over the world, and are believed to be real. So a gifted forger like Will can forever alter literary history. He might buy, say an expensive first edition of a Charles Dickens book and add an association inscription to Wilkie Collins thus making the book a priceless one-of-a-kind item that he could then sell at a huge profit. Inscriptions are one thing, but writing letters perfectly in the handwriting of a writer to another writer or to a lover or to a publisher asserting thoughts that never existed before(or probably didn’t)is certainly taking the molding clay and constructing a fabricated creature of words.
The plot is good, but the perspective of the world of books that Morrow presents is like having a window in a flat with a panoramic view of the Hay-on-Wye in Wales.
How about we look to Mr. Eliot?
”These fragments I have shored against my ruins.”
The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
This book begins with a pair of severed hands.
Adam Diehl, a reclusive collector, is found nearly bled out surrounded by the trampled and torn remains of his exclusive, and expensive book collection.
His hands are never found.
His sister Meghan who runs a local bookstore is devastated because she is very close to her brother, but also because he is all the family she has left. Her boyfriend, Will, who also serves as the narrator of the story never liked Adam very much and the feeling was mutual. They should like each other. They even have the same interest in the same types of books, but see there is a factor here unknown to Meghan that creates a rivalry and a certain amount of disdain.
They are both forgers.
Will is better at it than Adam and like many perfectionists he finds it insulting that someone else would try to pass off what he can do so much better. Of course he is supposed to be reformed after he experienced a brush with the law that nearly landed him in prison.
The desire is still there.
”I would sometimes find myself physically aroused when my hand, my pen, my paper were coordinating so perfectly that a kind of calligraphic, pornographic ballet took place before my eyes.”
Will’s father was a great book collector. He was well respected and venerated in the book collecting world. In fact, the quote at the beginning of this review was his attempt to explain to his son the gentle madness of collecting. If his father had known he was defacing books with forged signatures or that he was changing literary history with his arrogantly conceived counterfeit letters and ephemera he would have been beyond disappointed. He would have felt a complete failure in his attempt to raise someone in his own image.
”Would he have had any choice other than to hand me my loathsome heart bundled up in the butcher’s paper?”
His father was always searching for a more perfect copy of a book for his library. When he did find a better copy he would even keep the inferior copy as well which is fascinating. I often do upgrade a book in my library, but usually I sell or trade the more inferior copy. It is a way to offset the cost of the upgrade and it also frees up more room on the shelves for...another book.
Now Will does see history in the same way as I do. It is all a muddled mess of half truths, but I would never be willing to add to the muddle.
”History is subjective. History is alterable. History is, finally, little more than modeling clay in a very warm room.”
Everyone strives to know singular truth, but the truth is that there are many truths. For any one truth there are several other versions just as true. A historian uses the most accepted version of the truth or makes a case for an alternative truth that he believes or wants to believe is more true.
It is one thing to add thoughts believed to be true to the narrative, but it is quite another to manufacture them from whole cloth.
I’m with Will’s father regarding his activities. Bring me the butcher’s paper.
When Will starts to receive threatening letters, cleverly written in the style and penmanship of Henry James he knows that his secrets are known by someone who holds all the threads of his life.
This starts a desperate search for solutions that will hopefully appease his accuser and keep his secrets safe.
This book may not be a five star book for most other people, but I have to give Bradford Morrow credit for writing a pitch perfect novel about the book business. Most books I’ve read about the subjects of book collecting or working in a bookstore ring falsely for me. I can assure those that are interested in books beyond just the words they hold that Morrow knows his stuff. I often found myself feeling a tingle as he made connections that only the “gently mad” will understand. Speaking of Gently Mad, Nicholas A. Basbanes, a hero of mine, also endorsed this book.
The character of Will is so interesting because I couldn’t help liking him and loathing him in equal measure. Both diametrically opposed aspects of my feelings about him were tangled in almost every thought I had regarding his behavior. Forgeries are hanging on walls in museums and are locked up under glass in prestigious universities all over the world, and are believed to be real. So a gifted forger like Will can forever alter literary history. He might buy, say an expensive first edition of a Charles Dickens book and add an association inscription to Wilkie Collins thus making the book a priceless one-of-a-kind item that he could then sell at a huge profit. Inscriptions are one thing, but writing letters perfectly in the handwriting of a writer to another writer or to a lover or to a publisher asserting thoughts that never existed before(or probably didn’t)is certainly taking the molding clay and constructing a fabricated creature of words.
The plot is good, but the perspective of the world of books that Morrow presents is like having a window in a flat with a panoramic view of the Hay-on-Wye in Wales.
September 9, 2020
Bradford Morrow's well written and short literary mystery is one to read for the fascinating insights into the little known world of rare books, and the type of obsessive and driven characters that comprise the book collectors that are engaged in a never ending quest for the rarest copy of a book. It is a trade that goes hand in hand with that which blights the arts generally, the skills, craft and art of the forger, the study of handwriting, the ink, producing the signatures, the inscriptions, the counterfeit letters and more that add value to a book. The forger is rarely troubled by the concepts of ethics and morality, or even in the creation of a false history. Morrow's grasp and knowledge of this strange and odd world is laid bare with the rich descriptions and fine details of this specific book trade, but the literary mystery aspects of the story are thinner and more in the background.
In Montauk, Long Island, rare book collector, Adam Diehl, is found amongst trashed and vandalised rare books and manuscripts, with his hands severed and missing. His sister, Megan, a bookstore owner in New York, is distraught, she is in a relationship with Will, with his past history as a gifted forger, specialising in the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, now apparently a reformed man. The two men had known each other, thinking little of each other, Adam too was a forger, but not in Will's league. With little in the way of leads, it becomes a cold case, his hands never recovered, and Will starts receiving handwritten letters that threaten, how far will he go to protect the life he has with Megan? Will is the narrator, a suitably unreliable one, of this offbeat story of the rare book world, with its lies, secrets and deception. Many thanks to Atlantic Books for an ARC.
In Montauk, Long Island, rare book collector, Adam Diehl, is found amongst trashed and vandalised rare books and manuscripts, with his hands severed and missing. His sister, Megan, a bookstore owner in New York, is distraught, she is in a relationship with Will, with his past history as a gifted forger, specialising in the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, now apparently a reformed man. The two men had known each other, thinking little of each other, Adam too was a forger, but not in Will's league. With little in the way of leads, it becomes a cold case, his hands never recovered, and Will starts receiving handwritten letters that threaten, how far will he go to protect the life he has with Megan? Will is the narrator, a suitably unreliable one, of this offbeat story of the rare book world, with its lies, secrets and deception. Many thanks to Atlantic Books for an ARC.
January 9, 2021
The Forgers was a delightful, mysterious and riveting book by Bradford Morrow plunging one into the world of the collecting of rare books as well into the machinations and intricacies of forgery. This is an author that I love. Because of his diverse and extensive background, he is able to bring so much of the arts into his literature. Bradford Morrow has long been involved with the rare book community both as a bookseller and a collector. This background set the stage for a multifaceted read. I mean, because of the fictional plot line regarding Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I am now about to read my first Sherlock Holmes book. Bradford Morrow brings beauty, mystery and intrigue to life whether it be in New York City or in a remote village in Ireland.
"Once we're dead, secrets that we so carefully nurtured, like so many black flowers in a veiled garden, are often brought out into the light where they can flourish Cultivated by truth, fertilized by rumor, they blossom into florets and sprays that are toxic to those who would sniff their poisonous perfumes."
"If, as Emerson wrote, every word was once an idea, every cliché was once a revelation,"
"For anyone interested in the highest calligraphic arts, in the illuminated transcript lifted to the level of pure divinity, the Book of Kells was the ultimate lodestone destination."
"'Book collecting,' he memorably told me, though at the time I couldn't fully grasp his theory, 'is an act of faith. It's all about the preservation of culture, custodianship, and that's why when I add a book to the collection I'm taking on the responsibility of keeping it safe. And then there's also the joy of the chase, of striving to find a copy--the copy, the most historically interesting copy you can find."
"Once we're dead, secrets that we so carefully nurtured, like so many black flowers in a veiled garden, are often brought out into the light where they can flourish Cultivated by truth, fertilized by rumor, they blossom into florets and sprays that are toxic to those who would sniff their poisonous perfumes."
"If, as Emerson wrote, every word was once an idea, every cliché was once a revelation,"
"For anyone interested in the highest calligraphic arts, in the illuminated transcript lifted to the level of pure divinity, the Book of Kells was the ultimate lodestone destination."
"'Book collecting,' he memorably told me, though at the time I couldn't fully grasp his theory, 'is an act of faith. It's all about the preservation of culture, custodianship, and that's why when I add a book to the collection I'm taking on the responsibility of keeping it safe. And then there's also the joy of the chase, of striving to find a copy--the copy, the most historically interesting copy you can find."
October 16, 2014
The Forgers could be a quick read as it is only 258 pages. Do yourself a favor and take your time; savor the imagery and the beauty of the language in this expertly paced, literary thriller.
A brutal beginning could put some readers off. "They never found his hands." we are told in the opening line. Adam Diehl, a player in the rare book circle is found, in his apartment amongst the chaos of bloody, vandalized manuscripts, his severed hands missing, holding on to life by a thread. If you have survived this you'll be in for a descriptive ride in the world of rare book publishing and its seamy side, the art of forgery. Adam's sister Meghan is beside herself with grief. Our narrator Will, Meghan's boyfriend, a self described "hanky-panky" man, once arrested for forgery is a suspect right from the beginning. But there are others who very well might have done the deed. Adam himself is so well illustrated that I could pick him out in a crowd. I immediately like him, and share Meghan's sense of profound loss. I want the killer brought to justice.
I am quickly caught up in Will's world, his art form. I can see how easily I could be duped. Will is egotistical, arrogant in his craft and yet he fascinates me. When Will must give up forgery for the honest world of rare book buying, when he can no longer sell, I am routing for him and for his relationship with Meghan to thrive.
The Forgers is a seductive read, one which is certain to lure you in.
My sincere thanks to Mysterious Press and Edelweiss for providing the e-galley of The Forgers which will be published November 4th.
A brutal beginning could put some readers off. "They never found his hands." we are told in the opening line. Adam Diehl, a player in the rare book circle is found, in his apartment amongst the chaos of bloody, vandalized manuscripts, his severed hands missing, holding on to life by a thread. If you have survived this you'll be in for a descriptive ride in the world of rare book publishing and its seamy side, the art of forgery. Adam's sister Meghan is beside herself with grief. Our narrator Will, Meghan's boyfriend, a self described "hanky-panky" man, once arrested for forgery is a suspect right from the beginning. But there are others who very well might have done the deed. Adam himself is so well illustrated that I could pick him out in a crowd. I immediately like him, and share Meghan's sense of profound loss. I want the killer brought to justice.
I am quickly caught up in Will's world, his art form. I can see how easily I could be duped. Will is egotistical, arrogant in his craft and yet he fascinates me. When Will must give up forgery for the honest world of rare book buying, when he can no longer sell, I am routing for him and for his relationship with Meghan to thrive.
The Forgers is a seductive read, one which is certain to lure you in.
My sincere thanks to Mysterious Press and Edelweiss for providing the e-galley of The Forgers which will be published November 4th.
October 6, 2014
Got this one from first reads...
I'll begin by saying that anticlimactic is the word that is lighting up like a neon sign...
Nothing particularly bad, but for a thriller/crime/suspense book that begins with a guy getting his hands cut off...I feel like I might feel more emotion reading a cookbook.
And the "twist" at the end doesn't help. Somehow, in this book, the shocking fails to shock.
I'll begin by saying that anticlimactic is the word that is lighting up like a neon sign...
Nothing particularly bad, but for a thriller/crime/suspense book that begins with a guy getting his hands cut off...I feel like I might feel more emotion reading a cookbook.
And the "twist" at the end doesn't help. Somehow, in this book, the shocking fails to shock.
November 14, 2020
I quite enjoyed this one. I'll admit, that writing felt a little clunky and dry, for lack of a better explanation. However, the setting of the rare book world was fascinating and kept me interested. The mystery itself wasn't the most enthralling. I figured out the twist from very early on, but again, I still found myself invested enough in the story and characters to keep turning the pages. Invested enough, in fact, that I plan on reading the second book in the series soon.
**ARC Via NetGalley**
**ARC Via NetGalley**
October 16, 2014
The great thing about The Forgers is the setting -- the book world of Manhattan, the collectors, the dealers, the scouts, the forgers. It's set in the present, but these characters are surrounded by a world of print and physical books and don't care much about the internet or iPads and such. It could very well have taken place fifty years ago.
The narrator, who you immediately suspect to be unreliable, is a forger of literary autographs and letters, and quite a good one, if he does say so himself. There's a murder straight away, always a good start, and we're off. Unfortunately, the momentum stalls halfway through this shortish book, and there's a great deal of description and tension-building, and atmosphere, and inner thoughts, but little action in the way of detection.
I forged (!) through the rest of the book, and was not so much surprised as relieved that the story was over and solved. Nice background but unsatisfying mystery.
The narrator, who you immediately suspect to be unreliable, is a forger of literary autographs and letters, and quite a good one, if he does say so himself. There's a murder straight away, always a good start, and we're off. Unfortunately, the momentum stalls halfway through this shortish book, and there's a great deal of description and tension-building, and atmosphere, and inner thoughts, but little action in the way of detection.
I forged (!) through the rest of the book, and was not so much surprised as relieved that the story was over and solved. Nice background but unsatisfying mystery.
September 6, 2015
Interesting. A genuine literary thriller/murder mystery, treat for any bibliophile and yet not quite a winner. Morrow's obviously a competent writer, his narrative is easy and (since this is my first read of his, I have no idea if this is one off or a standard) stylized as something of a pastiche to bygone days of maybe Doyle himself, after the literary hero of Morrow's literary forger. It is an easy and fairly enjoyable read, although there is a particularly muddled quality to the mystery aspect of it. The motivations are somewhat confused, the actions are suspect, but even overlooking all that, the major no no is that it's predictable and the unreliable narrator trick is trite, pretty lazy, right on par with...and then he woke up. And so the world of book collectors, old manuscripts and talented forgers that Morrow creates is infinitely more interesting than the actual cast of characters or plot or mystery itself. Not great, but a perfectly decent read as is. Quick too.
February 14, 2021
Well written and an ok story. This felt a little bit like watching a slow movie with good actors and nothing that I’d turn off, but certainly nothing I’d watch again. After the dramatic start, the story took off in a direction I wasn’t expecting and then it didn’t move very quickly or in a clear direction at all. I still enjoyed it, but the ending was obvious for a very long time and with very little impact. Wouldn’t recommend especially, wouldn’t warn about either...
August 27, 2019
Policial?Romance?Uma mistura dos dois,e uma mistura bastante bem conseguida!Para quem goste de policiais, como é o meu caso,tem algo que me agradou bastante: a quase certeza de saber quem era o vilão e ao mesmo tempo a incerteza da certeza que tinha e ser necessário chegar ao fim para confirmar ou não o que achava que podia ser a resolução (não vou estragar a surpresa a quem ainda não leu o livro)!Quanto à escrita, também apreciei!Acabo com a afirmação de Michael Cunningham que se encontra na capa do livro e que diz tudo: "O livro é espantoso.O autor também.Uma combinação notável, verdadeiramente rara."
September 22, 2019
My reaction after reading the end:
December 2, 2014
I had high expectations for The Forgers based on reviews. As a thriller, it was truly disappointing: the ending was telegraphed from the beginning. The narrator was reliably unreliable; as a narcissist, his continual monologue prevents other characters from developing. If the intent was to illuminate a character, this, too, was a failure. Writing an unreliable narrator takes eloquent skill to key the reader into what has happened. Because of glowing recommendations, I expected to see such skill but instead saw inconsistencies, not in the character, but in the writing. Reviews told a story of exquisite writing: I kept checking the author's name to ensure I had the correct novel because the writing was not spectacular.
September 22, 2020
How strange it may appear, this is the first book but is released after its sequel ‘the forger’s daughter’ that I read a few months ago. I tried to pretend that I hadn’t read that, but it did spoil the story a bit as almost all that happens here, is recapped in book 2.
We never learn the name of the narrator as he refers to himself as ‘I’. His girlfriend’s brother is found near dead with severed hands in his mountain hideout and dies a few days later. He’s found amidst his rare books and manuscripts of which many have been vandalised and destroyed. It turns out that Adam was a forger of signatures and inscriptions as well as a collector. It’s a small world because ‘I’ is a master forger who only stopped after being caught out. He’s specialised in Conan Doyle and Sherlockiana. Fully rehabilitated now, he works as an authenticator and cataloguer for an auction house. His girlfriend owns a second-hand bookshop, specialised in art- and cooking books. So the whole story is situated in that small world of old and rare books. A third forger, Slader blackmails ‘I’ by threatening to tell the police that he knows that he’s the murderer of Adam. With his sketchy past and having been questioned already in relation to the murder, ‘I’ decides to pay. Not a good idea, of course. If you pay once, you open the door for more. After marrying, the couple moves to Ireland and they live a pleasant, serene, and unencumbered life. That is until the blackmailer turns up again.
It’s a very slow-moving book. There are long chapters where nothing happens. Apart from beautiful descriptions of the countryside, there are also long-winded reflective mutterings from ‘I’. How often and in how many ways can you say that you’re happy? The flowery sentence’s go well with the subject. If you like poetic language, this is right up your alley. In the second half, the pace picks up a bit and things start to happen.
The book offers a rare insight into this rather secretive hidden world of rare book collectors that can go wild over a first edition and of course those that try to earn the extra euro by ‘embellishing’ them. The author gets even lyrical when he describes the emotions of a master forger during his craft.
Okay, this book wasn’t really for me but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book of course. I just like a little bit more action.
There is one seriously distressing part in the book, where ‘I’ considers animal cruelty to a stray dog. Any normal person would think of feeding it instead of wanting to kill it. ‘I’ wasn’t one of my favourite people anyway, but that closes the line for me. His wife was not much better; she thought to enquire if it belongs to someone. My god, the poor thing is starving and they chase it.
I thank Netgalley and Atlantic Books for their free ARC and this is my honest, unbiased review of it.
We never learn the name of the narrator as he refers to himself as ‘I’. His girlfriend’s brother is found near dead with severed hands in his mountain hideout and dies a few days later. He’s found amidst his rare books and manuscripts of which many have been vandalised and destroyed. It turns out that Adam was a forger of signatures and inscriptions as well as a collector. It’s a small world because ‘I’ is a master forger who only stopped after being caught out. He’s specialised in Conan Doyle and Sherlockiana. Fully rehabilitated now, he works as an authenticator and cataloguer for an auction house. His girlfriend owns a second-hand bookshop, specialised in art- and cooking books. So the whole story is situated in that small world of old and rare books. A third forger, Slader blackmails ‘I’ by threatening to tell the police that he knows that he’s the murderer of Adam. With his sketchy past and having been questioned already in relation to the murder, ‘I’ decides to pay. Not a good idea, of course. If you pay once, you open the door for more. After marrying, the couple moves to Ireland and they live a pleasant, serene, and unencumbered life. That is until the blackmailer turns up again.
It’s a very slow-moving book. There are long chapters where nothing happens. Apart from beautiful descriptions of the countryside, there are also long-winded reflective mutterings from ‘I’. How often and in how many ways can you say that you’re happy? The flowery sentence’s go well with the subject. If you like poetic language, this is right up your alley. In the second half, the pace picks up a bit and things start to happen.
The book offers a rare insight into this rather secretive hidden world of rare book collectors that can go wild over a first edition and of course those that try to earn the extra euro by ‘embellishing’ them. The author gets even lyrical when he describes the emotions of a master forger during his craft.
Okay, this book wasn’t really for me but it doesn’t mean that it’s a bad book of course. I just like a little bit more action.
There is one seriously distressing part in the book, where ‘I’ considers animal cruelty to a stray dog. Any normal person would think of feeding it instead of wanting to kill it. ‘I’ wasn’t one of my favourite people anyway, but that closes the line for me. His wife was not much better; she thought to enquire if it belongs to someone. My god, the poor thing is starving and they chase it.
I thank Netgalley and Atlantic Books for their free ARC and this is my honest, unbiased review of it.
July 8, 2014
intriguing premise but ultimately not that satisfying...
November 3, 2014
"They never found his hands."
Isn't that a wonderful opening sentence?
It's from Bradford Morrow's new novel, THE FORGERS (Grove/Atlantic/MysteriousPress). I'm unacquainted with the antiquarian book world so I was quite interested to check out his literary mystery especially when I learned it was about the dark side of the rare book world. Well, I was quite surprised to read there is even such a thing ... a dark side?
Rare book collector Adam Diehl is found murdered at the desk of his Montauk, Long Island beach cottage surrounded by vandalized rare books, pages torn from their bindings and letters tossed about.
"A Vintage Patek Philippe Calatrava, an heirloom from his father, lay unmolested, its second-hand tracing serene circles, on the victim's desk."
From the very beginning, Morrow delights us with intimate details throughout. Adam's sister, Meghan, a NYC bookstore owner and her boyfriend Will, a convicted forger, now in the book trade, come out from the city to identify his body.
While going through Adam's papers, Will discovers an invoice linking both back to Will's former life as a forger, which he's trying to put behind him. Over the course of the novel, lines between secrets, obsession and lies blur so it becomes difficult to fully know what's true from false.
"It takes a lot of truth to tell a lie. Truth must surround the pulsating heart of any lie for it to be convincing, believable."
When handwritten letters from dead authors and secrets from both Adam and Will's past start surfacing, Will is forced to lie to Meghan, whom he calls his one source of pure joy. As it often is in mysteries, "the plot thickens."
I enjoyed THE FORGERS for my entry into such an unique, if not quirky world. Bradford Morrow's prose are a joy to read.
Thanks to Netgalley http://www.netgalley.com and Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious Press http://www.groveatlantic.com for a kindle copy of THE FORGERS for an honest review. For more about Bradford Morrow, check out his website: http://www.bradfordmorrow.com. For more reviews, go to http://www.cindyroesel.com
Isn't that a wonderful opening sentence?
It's from Bradford Morrow's new novel, THE FORGERS (Grove/Atlantic/MysteriousPress). I'm unacquainted with the antiquarian book world so I was quite interested to check out his literary mystery especially when I learned it was about the dark side of the rare book world. Well, I was quite surprised to read there is even such a thing ... a dark side?
Rare book collector Adam Diehl is found murdered at the desk of his Montauk, Long Island beach cottage surrounded by vandalized rare books, pages torn from their bindings and letters tossed about.
"A Vintage Patek Philippe Calatrava, an heirloom from his father, lay unmolested, its second-hand tracing serene circles, on the victim's desk."
From the very beginning, Morrow delights us with intimate details throughout. Adam's sister, Meghan, a NYC bookstore owner and her boyfriend Will, a convicted forger, now in the book trade, come out from the city to identify his body.
While going through Adam's papers, Will discovers an invoice linking both back to Will's former life as a forger, which he's trying to put behind him. Over the course of the novel, lines between secrets, obsession and lies blur so it becomes difficult to fully know what's true from false.
"It takes a lot of truth to tell a lie. Truth must surround the pulsating heart of any lie for it to be convincing, believable."
When handwritten letters from dead authors and secrets from both Adam and Will's past start surfacing, Will is forced to lie to Meghan, whom he calls his one source of pure joy. As it often is in mysteries, "the plot thickens."
I enjoyed THE FORGERS for my entry into such an unique, if not quirky world. Bradford Morrow's prose are a joy to read.
Thanks to Netgalley http://www.netgalley.com and Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious Press http://www.groveatlantic.com for a kindle copy of THE FORGERS for an honest review. For more about Bradford Morrow, check out his website: http://www.bradfordmorrow.com. For more reviews, go to http://www.cindyroesel.com
September 5, 2014
What makes this book so intriguing is the narrator and main character, whose name is only mentioned once. Will is a convicted forger of signatures and manuscripts and successfully passed off remarkable inscriptions in rare antique books as authentic. Though he is incredibly proud of his craft, when he is finally caught (exposed, technically), he swears off forgery forever to satisfy the love of his life, Meghan. When Meghan’s brother Adam, who is also involved in the rare book trade, is horrifically murdered, someone is determined that Will has a guilty conscience (about something). When extortion is threatened Will does whatever he can to ensure that his idyllic life with Meghan is not threatened.
The writing here is so elegant, and the atmosphere is great. I love Will’s voice, his sharp perception, and his adoration of Meghan. He has a checkered past and he is definitely flawed, but he accepts that. He demonstrates both honesty and duplicity with his readers and the characters he interacts with. Such a dubious yet intelligent narrator makes for a fun and engaging novel, especially for lovers of books like myself.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.
The writing here is so elegant, and the atmosphere is great. I love Will’s voice, his sharp perception, and his adoration of Meghan. He has a checkered past and he is definitely flawed, but he accepts that. He demonstrates both honesty and duplicity with his readers and the characters he interacts with. Such a dubious yet intelligent narrator makes for a fun and engaging novel, especially for lovers of books like myself.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.
November 17, 2014
I was hoping for wonderful things when I cracked open The Forgers by Bradford Morrow. After all, it’s billed as a bibliophile’s mystery, set in and around the world of antiquarian books. But I soon found myself wishing that the locale had stayed within the book world of New York City and not moving back and forth to a cottage in Ireland. I also found myself wishing that the story–in a slim volume, no less–would move a little quicker. After all, you know rather early on who the bad guy is, and the big twist–when it comes–is only just barely able to save this book from being a complete disappointment. Three Stars.
October 10, 2014
“Narrator Will and Adam Diehl have something in common: they are both forgers, able to produce and sell authentic-looking inscriptions of Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry James’ books. When Adam is found bludgeoned and missing his hands, Will is inevitably drawn into the murder investigation. The clues and horror mount until realization bursts upon the reader at the end.”
Nancy Russell, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH
Nancy Russell, Columbus Metropolitan Library, Columbus, OH
September 29, 2017
3,5*
Opinião completa: http://marcadordelivros.blogspot.pt/2...
Opinião completa: http://marcadordelivros.blogspot.pt/2...
June 4, 2018
Très bon roman, le monde des bibliophiles, des livres rares, et des faux. Belle écriture.
November 4, 2018
"Os Falsários" de Bradford Murrow é um policial recente que se desenrola no mundo escondido dos livros raros e das falsicações literárias. Quando vemos esta última frase e lemos a primera do livro, somos logos embalados num mundo de crime e intriga, charme e mistério.
Contudo, na minha opinião este livro falhou. A história começa com a descrição de um crime, um pouco bárbaro, de uma personagem que ao longo do livro não conseguimos criar carisma mas que de facto foi uma vitima. Essa vitima era um irmão parasita da namorada/mulher do personagem principal Will. A acção em si desenrola quando, depois do homicidio de Adam, descobre-se que ele era um falsário. E assim Will começa a pensar na vida dele, que tinha deixado para trás, como falsário, antes de ter sido julgado por isso e ter sofrido perdas.
É neste ponto que tudo o que este livro prometia, desaparece. Um terço do livro é Will a pensar na vida dele como falsário: as feiras onde esteve, algumas das obras que ele falsificou, pois Will, embora bastante magoado com o facto de quase ser preso por falsificação, tinha orgulho no seu trabalho, na sua arte e nunca ficou a cem por cento fora da área. Metade do livro é a relação dele com Morgan, a irmã do assassinado. Acerca do dia a dia deles, dos altos e baixos que já tiveram. O livro foca tanto nesses pequenos detalhes que por vezes pensei que ela seria o assassino do próprio irmão, porque para mim seria talvez um método de desviar a nossa atenção para detalhes importantes. Só uma percentagem diminuta do livro é o crime e suspense em si, e de uma forma simplificada. Sabemos que o Will recebeu há uns anos ameaças, que voltaram a ressurgir depois da morte de Adam. Mas mesmo quando se dá o encontro de ameaçado com ameaçador, é descrito de uma forma tão banal que não dá impacto nenhum. Ainda assim, o pior de tudo para mim é o último capitulo, que literalmente dá uma reviravolta na história, mas, o desenrolar do texto é tão simplificado que quando chegamos à revelação não consegue criar novidade em si.
Penso que todo o livro pode ser descrito como leve. As personagens para mim são muito levianas. Não consegui criar empatia com nenhuma sou sincera, e mesmo as referências ao mundo dos livros raros não foi assim nada por aí além que me tenha feito ficar muito empolgada. É uma história que nos vai prendendo por pequenos factos mas que vai passando, voando, muito ao de leve. Apesar de tudo, ainda assim marquei bastantes passagens bonitas pois este autor fazia descrições comparativas ou mesmo buscando exemplos da literatura. E como o autor favorito desta personagem era Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tem sequências engraçadas.
http://thedailymiacis.blogs.sapo.pt/o...
Contudo, na minha opinião este livro falhou. A história começa com a descrição de um crime, um pouco bárbaro, de uma personagem que ao longo do livro não conseguimos criar carisma mas que de facto foi uma vitima. Essa vitima era um irmão parasita da namorada/mulher do personagem principal Will. A acção em si desenrola quando, depois do homicidio de Adam, descobre-se que ele era um falsário. E assim Will começa a pensar na vida dele, que tinha deixado para trás, como falsário, antes de ter sido julgado por isso e ter sofrido perdas.
É neste ponto que tudo o que este livro prometia, desaparece. Um terço do livro é Will a pensar na vida dele como falsário: as feiras onde esteve, algumas das obras que ele falsificou, pois Will, embora bastante magoado com o facto de quase ser preso por falsificação, tinha orgulho no seu trabalho, na sua arte e nunca ficou a cem por cento fora da área. Metade do livro é a relação dele com Morgan, a irmã do assassinado. Acerca do dia a dia deles, dos altos e baixos que já tiveram. O livro foca tanto nesses pequenos detalhes que por vezes pensei que ela seria o assassino do próprio irmão, porque para mim seria talvez um método de desviar a nossa atenção para detalhes importantes. Só uma percentagem diminuta do livro é o crime e suspense em si, e de uma forma simplificada. Sabemos que o Will recebeu há uns anos ameaças, que voltaram a ressurgir depois da morte de Adam. Mas mesmo quando se dá o encontro de ameaçado com ameaçador, é descrito de uma forma tão banal que não dá impacto nenhum. Ainda assim, o pior de tudo para mim é o último capitulo, que literalmente dá uma reviravolta na história, mas, o desenrolar do texto é tão simplificado que quando chegamos à revelação não consegue criar novidade em si.
Penso que todo o livro pode ser descrito como leve. As personagens para mim são muito levianas. Não consegui criar empatia com nenhuma sou sincera, e mesmo as referências ao mundo dos livros raros não foi assim nada por aí além que me tenha feito ficar muito empolgada. É uma história que nos vai prendendo por pequenos factos mas que vai passando, voando, muito ao de leve. Apesar de tudo, ainda assim marquei bastantes passagens bonitas pois este autor fazia descrições comparativas ou mesmo buscando exemplos da literatura. E como o autor favorito desta personagem era Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tem sequências engraçadas.
http://thedailymiacis.blogs.sapo.pt/o...
November 8, 2020
I read a lot of thriller books and so I often find myself able to guess twists and reveals quite easily. There are still books that surprise me though and I often give them high scoring reviews as a reward! The Forgers, however, has a twist I don’t think anyone could avoid correctly guessing from the outset - it’s so obviously signposted!
We begin with a violent murder – a man is found with his hands not only chopped off but also missing. It’s an action-packed beginning which sets high hopes for the rest. However, about 10 pages after this murder I had correctly guessed the perpetrator and the book then proceeded to dawdle on with not very much happening until it’s conclusion where it finally reveals exactly what it had so obviously spelt out at the beginning of the book. I wouldn’t have minded so much if there was an interesting sub-plot or if the book had even convincingly tried to pin it on someone else but apart from the slightly interesting introduction to the world of forging historical documents absolutely nothing else happens. This is even more disappointing as I can see from other reader’s reviews that this is a prequel and if you have read the other book you know exactly what happens anyway! If this is the case then the author really should have taken the time to focus on either confusing the murder so that the reader is taken on a rollercoaster ride where they don’t know who to trust or what to believe or focused on something else entirely and made the murder a sub-plot.
Our main character for the story is Will who is a very unreliable narrator. Things are murky and confusing in places which add to suspicion and I felt no empathy for him. He also doesn’t really care for any of the characters he meets either which means the reader has no-one to root for through the plot at all. Disappointingly it was all just a bit boring - I found myself skimming the book to get to the end!
Overall, The Forgers was a massive disappointment and one of the most predictable books I’ve read this year. Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books – Grove Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for a (very!) honest review.
For more of my reviews check out www.kindig.co.uk
We begin with a violent murder – a man is found with his hands not only chopped off but also missing. It’s an action-packed beginning which sets high hopes for the rest. However, about 10 pages after this murder I had correctly guessed the perpetrator and the book then proceeded to dawdle on with not very much happening until it’s conclusion where it finally reveals exactly what it had so obviously spelt out at the beginning of the book. I wouldn’t have minded so much if there was an interesting sub-plot or if the book had even convincingly tried to pin it on someone else but apart from the slightly interesting introduction to the world of forging historical documents absolutely nothing else happens. This is even more disappointing as I can see from other reader’s reviews that this is a prequel and if you have read the other book you know exactly what happens anyway! If this is the case then the author really should have taken the time to focus on either confusing the murder so that the reader is taken on a rollercoaster ride where they don’t know who to trust or what to believe or focused on something else entirely and made the murder a sub-plot.
Our main character for the story is Will who is a very unreliable narrator. Things are murky and confusing in places which add to suspicion and I felt no empathy for him. He also doesn’t really care for any of the characters he meets either which means the reader has no-one to root for through the plot at all. Disappointingly it was all just a bit boring - I found myself skimming the book to get to the end!
Overall, The Forgers was a massive disappointment and one of the most predictable books I’ve read this year. Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books – Grove Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for a (very!) honest review.
For more of my reviews check out www.kindig.co.uk
March 6, 2015
Welcome to world of rare books, their collectors and their forgers, of which Will is one of the best. Not only is his line of work profitable because he does it so well, but it gives him a thrill every time a perfectly forged signature comes from his pen. Will firmly believes he is “improving” the rare books as he adds signatures as well as building a “more interesting” history for the books and their long dead authors. How could that be a bad thing? As is bound to happen, Will is exposed as a forger. Making restitution to most (well, some – okay, those who asked) of his clients and promising he is reformed he manages to hold on to and marry Meghan, the love of his life. Meghan’s brother Adam (also a forger) had been brutally murdered, hands cut off, his books destroyed and his home torn asunder. The killer was never apprehended. When Will begins to receive threatening letters, written in the penmanship of Arthur Conan Doyle, attempting to blackmail him back into forgery he is frightened for Meghan and yet torn at the same time. He misses the excitement of the forgery but knows he will lose Meghan if he returns to that world. And, just how much does this mysterious letter writer know about Will anyway?
As a reader one would think any book starting with the line, “They never found his hands” would be a pretty thrilling mystery. Not so much in this case. The murder hovers in the background like an omnipresent shadow that you expect will be drawn back into the main story at any moment. And it is … at the very end. The book held my attention because I enjoyed reading the detailed descriptions of how the forgeries were accomplished. I didn’t like Will very much, but come to think of it maybe that held my attention too. I wanted to know if good-Will or bad-Will would win out when it came to his promise of reform to Meghan. I won’t spoil it, but I wasn’t really surprised.
As a reader one would think any book starting with the line, “They never found his hands” would be a pretty thrilling mystery. Not so much in this case. The murder hovers in the background like an omnipresent shadow that you expect will be drawn back into the main story at any moment. And it is … at the very end. The book held my attention because I enjoyed reading the detailed descriptions of how the forgeries were accomplished. I didn’t like Will very much, but come to think of it maybe that held my attention too. I wanted to know if good-Will or bad-Will would win out when it came to his promise of reform to Meghan. I won’t spoil it, but I wasn’t really surprised.
December 14, 2014
A friend was trying to remember the title of an old P.D. James novel. "Y'know, the one with the hands.'' Actually, no hands. Unnatural Causes opens with a memorably creepy sentence: "The corpse without hands lay in the bottom of a small sailing dinghy drifting just within sight of the Suffolk coast.''
Severed hands also figure in two chilly new crime novels. In Bradford Morrow's artful The Forgers (Grove Atlantic, digital galley), rare book collector Adam Diehl is found murdered in his Montauk home surrounded by the ruins of valuable signed books and manuscripts. That Adam's hands are missing leads narrator Will to speculate that Adam, the beloved brother of his girlfriend Meghan, was killed and mutilated because he was a secret forger. Will knows something about the subject because he was once a forger, too -- specializing in Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry James, among others -- but he has spent years working his way back into the book world's good graces. Now he verifies the authenticity of the handwriting in books' inscriptions and in old letters for other collectors, occasionally recalling the thrill of faking the perfect signature. His suspicions about Adam, which he keeps from Meghan, are heightened when he begins receiving expertly forged letters from dead authors that hint at more secrets about the unsolved murder and Will's past. Aha! The game is afoot -- or is it at hand? Will makes for an eloquent and informed -- if unreliable -- narrator, and readers will appreciate the inside details about bibliophiles, obsession and books to die for.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever http://patebooks.wordpress.com
Severed hands also figure in two chilly new crime novels. In Bradford Morrow's artful The Forgers (Grove Atlantic, digital galley), rare book collector Adam Diehl is found murdered in his Montauk home surrounded by the ruins of valuable signed books and manuscripts. That Adam's hands are missing leads narrator Will to speculate that Adam, the beloved brother of his girlfriend Meghan, was killed and mutilated because he was a secret forger. Will knows something about the subject because he was once a forger, too -- specializing in Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry James, among others -- but he has spent years working his way back into the book world's good graces. Now he verifies the authenticity of the handwriting in books' inscriptions and in old letters for other collectors, occasionally recalling the thrill of faking the perfect signature. His suspicions about Adam, which he keeps from Meghan, are heightened when he begins receiving expertly forged letters from dead authors that hint at more secrets about the unsolved murder and Will's past. Aha! The game is afoot -- or is it at hand? Will makes for an eloquent and informed -- if unreliable -- narrator, and readers will appreciate the inside details about bibliophiles, obsession and books to die for.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever http://patebooks.wordpress.com
Read
January 9, 2015Hmmm. Actually, my first response at the end was "Hmph!"
I think I get what he was trying to do here - write a mystery in the style of Sherlock Holmes, with a book collecting twist. But it didn't work for me. I figured out the ending about halfway through, and just finished to see if I was right. I was. I NEVER figure out whodunnit in mysteries, so this is rather a bad sign.
When I saw the endorsement by Nicholas Basbanes, I thought that was good enough for me. But turns out he is a friend of the author. Somehow, that doesn't carry so much weight then. But it still should have been good enough.
There were bright spots, of course. I did like the book collecting/forger element. I wish we had gotten to see more of Meghan - or Ireland, or New York City. The settings were nearly invisible. As were any secondary characters. This whole book takes place in the mind of our main character, who after a while I didn't really like all that much. A bit whiny. A bit self-absorbed. Ya think?
The Sherlock Holmes connection comes in because that is one of the fields of his expertise, and a favorite author. However, when he comes in to the foreboding aspect, he is just a little bit too fraidy cat for me. Grow a spine, man! I see most of this as implausible, as I'm not likely to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to anyone, but then, I haven't got it, either, have I?
All in all, not something I would recommend.
I think I get what he was trying to do here - write a mystery in the style of Sherlock Holmes, with a book collecting twist. But it didn't work for me. I figured out the ending about halfway through, and just finished to see if I was right. I was. I NEVER figure out whodunnit in mysteries, so this is rather a bad sign.
When I saw the endorsement by Nicholas Basbanes, I thought that was good enough for me. But turns out he is a friend of the author. Somehow, that doesn't carry so much weight then. But it still should have been good enough.
There were bright spots, of course. I did like the book collecting/forger element. I wish we had gotten to see more of Meghan - or Ireland, or New York City. The settings were nearly invisible. As were any secondary characters. This whole book takes place in the mind of our main character, who after a while I didn't really like all that much. A bit whiny. A bit self-absorbed. Ya think?
The Sherlock Holmes connection comes in because that is one of the fields of his expertise, and a favorite author. However, when he comes in to the foreboding aspect, he is just a little bit too fraidy cat for me. Grow a spine, man! I see most of this as implausible, as I'm not likely to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to anyone, but then, I haven't got it, either, have I?
All in all, not something I would recommend.
February 16, 2015
My review for USA Today.
The Forgers
By Bradford Morrow
Mysterious Press, 258 pp.
**½
"They never found his hands" — it's a great opener, and establishes the tone of this uneven but consistently unnerving mystery set in the world of rare books. A reformed forger named Will describes the circumstances surrounding the death of his girlfriend's brother, also a trader in unusual volumes. Is Will a good guy, or is he a psychopath? That's the question, and Morrow handles it fairly well, though the best moments in The Forgers come not from its sometimes tedious plot but from its intimate knowledge of books, details about signatures, ink, bindings, the slant of Arthur Conan Doyle's handwriting. Its overegged prose ("Meghan's thoughts were every bit as stormy as the clouds that were piling up, nor'easter-like, along the purple horizon") somehow works, weirdly, creating an ambience of old-fashioned gothic suspense that bibliophiles in particular will enjoy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/bo...
The Forgers
By Bradford Morrow
Mysterious Press, 258 pp.
**½
"They never found his hands" — it's a great opener, and establishes the tone of this uneven but consistently unnerving mystery set in the world of rare books. A reformed forger named Will describes the circumstances surrounding the death of his girlfriend's brother, also a trader in unusual volumes. Is Will a good guy, or is he a psychopath? That's the question, and Morrow handles it fairly well, though the best moments in The Forgers come not from its sometimes tedious plot but from its intimate knowledge of books, details about signatures, ink, bindings, the slant of Arthur Conan Doyle's handwriting. Its overegged prose ("Meghan's thoughts were every bit as stormy as the clouds that were piling up, nor'easter-like, along the purple horizon") somehow works, weirdly, creating an ambience of old-fashioned gothic suspense that bibliophiles in particular will enjoy.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/bo...
July 21, 2014
This literary thriller is so well written that it will take some time to finish reading. You might want to reread every sentence, every word of it.
It's all about book collectors, booksellers, old books and manuscripts, and of course, forgers.
A famous book collector is found murdered and one of the suspects is Will, his future brother in law who once was arrested for forgery. Nothing is proven but soon Will starts to receive threatening letters written in the hand of long dead authors. Will, feeling challenged in his craftsmanship, goes into a forgery duel but that will force him to the limits to save his livelihood and the love of his life.
It's all about book collectors, booksellers, old books and manuscripts, and of course, forgers.
A famous book collector is found murdered and one of the suspects is Will, his future brother in law who once was arrested for forgery. Nothing is proven but soon Will starts to receive threatening letters written in the hand of long dead authors. Will, feeling challenged in his craftsmanship, goes into a forgery duel but that will force him to the limits to save his livelihood and the love of his life.
November 24, 2014
3-stars
I guess this was primarily a mystery, but it definitely had a literary feel to it. I thought it was pretty decent. I certainly wasn't blown away by it, but I liked it. Totally middle of the road.
I guess this was primarily a mystery, but it definitely had a literary feel to it. I thought it was pretty decent. I certainly wasn't blown away by it, but I liked it. Totally middle of the road.
January 6, 2020
É um livro sobre livros, sobre o amor aos livros. Não é um thriller muito empolgante, mas gostei do final.
November 5, 2020
Previously published in the US in 2014, The Forgers is set in the slightly obsessive world of antiquarian book collectors and dealers who, according to the book's narrator, share "little else than a rabid passion for the printed page". But not just any old printed page; we're talking rare first editions, unpublished manuscripts, private letters and volumes inscribed by the author.
Given the narrator, Will (although rarely referred to by name), is a self-confessed forger with a high opinion of his own ability, who considers his forged inscriptions to be "improvements" and works of art in their own right, his testimony is suspect from the outset. His one redeeming feature is his devotion to Meghan, the sister of the murdered man, for whose sake he undertakes to leave his nefarious past behind.
These worthy intentions are disrupted by the arrival of accusatory letters from a man whom Will comes to think of as his "epistolary nemesis", rather in the manner of Sherlock Holmes' arch-enemy Moriarty. An apt comparison since Will is an expert on the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle. After all, he's forged enough of them. The author creates an air of increasing unease and tension as Will tries to discover the identity of his mystery correspondent and becomes increasingly paranoid about the threat he poses.
Although the book includes misdirections and red herrings in the manner of Agatha Christie, I have to say it rather fizzled out for me and I was left with a sense of anti-climax as I turned the final pages. The Forgers is interesting as a portrait of the darker side of the antiquarian book world but not as satisfying a mystery as I'd hoped for.
Given the narrator, Will (although rarely referred to by name), is a self-confessed forger with a high opinion of his own ability, who considers his forged inscriptions to be "improvements" and works of art in their own right, his testimony is suspect from the outset. His one redeeming feature is his devotion to Meghan, the sister of the murdered man, for whose sake he undertakes to leave his nefarious past behind.
These worthy intentions are disrupted by the arrival of accusatory letters from a man whom Will comes to think of as his "epistolary nemesis", rather in the manner of Sherlock Holmes' arch-enemy Moriarty. An apt comparison since Will is an expert on the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle. After all, he's forged enough of them. The author creates an air of increasing unease and tension as Will tries to discover the identity of his mystery correspondent and becomes increasingly paranoid about the threat he poses.
Although the book includes misdirections and red herrings in the manner of Agatha Christie, I have to say it rather fizzled out for me and I was left with a sense of anti-climax as I turned the final pages. The Forgers is interesting as a portrait of the darker side of the antiquarian book world but not as satisfying a mystery as I'd hoped for.
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