Le code Napoléon

Tom Kirk #3

by James Twining, Carole Benton (Translator)

Seville. Un homme tente de proteger un mysterieux carnet. Quelques heures plus tard, il est retrouve crucifie. En tentant de venger la mort de son ami, Tom Kirk, l'ancien voleur, decouvre qu'une serie d'assassinats vise le milieu des ventes d'objets d'art. Quelqu'un semble preparer un impossible cambriolage, au c ur meme du musee du Louvre. Les cadavres s'accumulent, ainsi que les fausses pistes. Certains elements troublants remontent jusqu'a l'empereur lui-meme aurait laisse des messages codes menant a un incroyable secret... Le digne successeur de Follett et Forsyth ! (Christopher Reich)"

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Adventure, Crime, Action, Mystery Thriller

398 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

James Twining was born in London but spent much of his childhood in Paris. After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford with a first-class degree in French Literature, he joined the investment bank UBS, working in their corporate finance division. In 1999 he left to set up his own company and in 2001 was named as one of the eight 'Best of Young British' entrepreneurs in The New Statesman. James lives in London with his wife, Victoria, and is now a full-time writer.

Series:
* Tom Kirk

Reviews

[Stratos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Μάλλον με απογοήτευσε. Πληκτική, ανιαρή και προβλέψιμη ιστορία...

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

eponymous-ey sentence:
p232: It came open to reveal a small key decorated at one end with a gilded N surrounded by laurel leaves.

space:
p75: Ithought we'd agreed that you were going to keep your head down?" FBI Director Green elbowed past her, his heels tip-tapping officiously across the parquet.

p117: Ithought I asked for the Commando variant?" Milo kicked open a crate and pulled out one of the ten blackened FAMAS G22 assault rifles it contained, noting that the barrel was slightly longer than he'd wanted for the close-quarter combat situation they were likely to face.

construction:
p205: When he had got as close as possible, he glanced across to Jennifer and nodded.

My copy of this is the worst of the lot so far; took me a while to acclimatize myself with its atrocity.

[Eadie Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 3rd book by James Twining about Tom Kirk, an art thief who is now a good guy helping to thwart the theft of the Mona Lisa. What secrets hide behind the most famous smile in the world? A master forger is killed, then a prominent attorney dies and drags FBI agent Jennifer Browne into the mix. Secrets go back to the time of Napoleon who was a power-mad emperor. Read this entertaining book for a very enlightening story about the Mona Lisa portrait.

[Nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, historically good but geographically a bit confusing. Trying to be too much like Dan brown with the clipped chapters and twisty storyline. It really sped up at the end, and I struggled to take on board all of the info.

[Zitong Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Gilded Seal is an thriller/mystery book on a former art thief named Tom Kirk and his comrades trying to find the truth of you’ve guessed it, the Mona Lisa. *groans* I’m not the kind of person that enjoys a crackling paced novel that takes the space of just a few days. I found that there was really little to no character development, nothing really changed and much of it in this book was incredibly predictable. Nothing was shocking or surprising.

There’s a bad guy who kills people and wants money, a good guy who wants to stop the bad guy but people thinks he is also a bad guy. Bad guy kills someone, bad guy kills someone else, good guy tries to stop the bad guy, and repeat. Someone’s who is close to the good guy betrays him but we already know so it’s not even a surprise anymore. There’s nothing wrong with this book and thrillers, but it doesn’t suit my taste of more slow and beautiful writing. I’ll stick to my fantasy and historical fiction, thanks. 5/10

[Franklie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately it's been a few months since I read this book and I only have a few margin notes to go on.

LOVED the quotes and some of the insights (top of pg 15) and the locations.

Not a fan of many of the vocabulary words. Please bring back classic 'damn' and 'hell', the imagery is surprisingly less disturbing.
The story often got lost in the excessive descriptions, yet there were times I was grateful that the violence had few details.
And it's tough cheering for people being chased who aren't smart enough to change their appearance, even w a hat or a jacket.

Often, if books are too annoying, I don't finish them, but I finished this one, so it must have been good.

[Shaunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. Learned about the Mona Lisa, & the Madonna of the Yarnwinder.

Got a little history on Nepoleon Bonaparte.

Toured the Louvre and the Catocombs of Paris. I didn't realize that the catacombs extend for 186 miles underground. Amazing!!! I would not mind visiting them, when I got back to France.

Enjoyable read.

Ciao💋

[Cactuskid · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many characters to keep track of and way too complicated. About half way through it became more interesting and easier to follow what was going on. Twining goes very much into detail about art etc., that has to be a big interest of his personally. Anyway no more of Tom Kirk's stories.

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read, I love the mysteries with a historical twist and a hint of conspiracy, so if that's your cup of tea too give this a whirl. I think James Twining is a great writer and am onto my second novel of his now after reading this one over one weekend.

[Trisha Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

A enjoyable ride

[Disha Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have first read this series , when i was in First year of my college...........its so good to re-read it again.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every single art heist stereotype was happening simultaneously and I can't even be mad at it, I was HOOKED.

[Rebecca Ramsden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and the ups and downs of the chase, some of it gets a bit much, hence 3 stars, but a fun ride nonetheless. Loved the locations too.

[MR PM · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=ja...#

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok.

[Jane Burnham · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GILDED SEAL
By James Twining

The most audacious heist in history is about to commence, and Tom Kirk is right in the middle of it! Whilst investigating the theft of a stolen Da Vinci -- The Madonna of the Yarnwinder, Reformed art thief Tom Kirk is confronted with the horrifying sight of a cat nailed to the wall where the painting once stood. He instantly recognises the sign as a greeting from his old enemy Milo. Then Tom finds out that a long time friend in Seville has been murdered. Whilst visiting his friend's daughter Eva, she is kidnapped by Milo and Tom suddenly finds himself in a frantic race against time to save her life.

Meanwhile, in New York, FBI agent Jennifer Browne has been asked to investigate a possible art fraud. The trail leads to an Iranian art dealer who denies all knowledge, but when a lawyer who he had dealings with is murdered, Jennifer knows she has stumbled across something very sinister indeed. Are the reappearance of Milo, Eva's kidnapping and the theft of the Da Vinci connected? And are Tom and Jennifer's paths destined to cross again as they descend into a maelstrom of betrayal and murder?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Twining was born in London but spent much of his childhood in Paris. After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford with a first-class degree in French Literature, he joined the investment bank UBS, working in their corporate finance division. In 1999 he left to set up his own company and in 2001 was named as one of the eight 'Best of Young British' entrepreneurs in The New Statesman. James lives in London with his wife, Victoria, and is now a full-time writer.
Twining wrote his first book The Double Eagle in 2003. It was published in the UK and USA in 2005. A sequel, The Black Sun, was published in 2006.
Both books feature art thief Tom Kirk and are set in the art world and underworld. In each case, Twining builds a modern day thriller involving art theft around a series of historical events and/or artifacts.
REVIEWS
Praise for The Black Sun
'A story that harks back to the Nazis, Hitler and a legendary treasure. What more could you want? If there's a better thriller this year I would like to see it.' Jack Higgins, bestselling author of Without Mercy and The Eagle Has Landed
'An exciting, suspenseful and fast-paced novel' Bookreporter.com
Praise for The Double Eagle
'A carefully constructed tale straight out of the Dan Brown mould of thriller writing'
Sunday Sun
'The Double Eagle will leave you breathless, but never dizzy. Solid debut work'
Ladsmag

'This would make the perfect Tom Cruise movie' The Independent on Sunday
'A captivating, engrossing debut,…a fast-paced tale of international crime and skullduggery written with style and panache. Twining is a worthy successor to Forsyth, Follett, and Higgins. Highly recommended.' Christoper Reich
'This is an auspicious beginning for a fledgling series' Publishers Weekly
'Brilliantly written with numerous double crosses taking place, James Twining has created a delightful and thought-provoking protagonist. Along with deceit, shattered promises, and murder all going hand in hand The Double Eagle is certainly a pacy novel' Shots

[Ken B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read James Twining's previous two books, The Double Eagle and The Black Sun, I expected a little more from this offering. The historical mystery seems overshadowed by action sequences that are a cross between Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible and Wile E Coyote. He also introduces several shadowy underworld figures that are almost unbelievable and are certainly unrealistic.

If judging this book as a screenplay for an action movie, I would give it 3 stars. As an Dan Brown-esque historical, conspiracy theory mystery it is about 2 1/2 stars.

[Nicky Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, amazing and unputdownable! Loved this book from start to finish. Mr Twining has to be praised on creating a unique crime solving character that is not ex military, policeman, private detective or secret service. Tom Kirk is perfect.

The story line in the Gilded Seal is so gripping, add that to the fast paced manner in which the book is written and I just could not put it down. I am not the fastest reader in the world, but this book was done and dusted within 5 days - that is extremely quick for me, especially as I have two very loud children who seem to get louder whenever I pick up a book, strange that?

Reading the Mona Lisa robbery left me with a massive grin on my face, at the risk of sounder a lot like a teenager, that was so cool.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reformed art thief Tom Kirk is called in to help investigate the theft of a Davinci painting in Scotland and finds himself drawn into a plot to steal the Mona Lisa by his old pal and now arch enemy Milo. But is it the real Mona Lisa and is it really Milo and what is the link with a small time art fraud being investigated by the FBI? I thought this was a great story with some terrific twists and turns. I love the premise that the Mona Lisa in the Louvre isn't the real one and the tour of the Paris Catacombs was fascinating. As others have said, a high body count but that doesn't spoil a well written and enjoyable tale.

[Bernie Charbonneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel that I had in my "to Read" shelf, I finally picked up at my local library with the next volume by James Twining. With the the reviews that I had read, I was looking forward to this book and was not disappointed. The plot was fast paced with a healthy amount of twists that keep you turning the next page. As mentioned on another review, since this is the third book with the same primary characters, Tom Kirk and Jennifer Browne, it may be helpful to read the previous novels but I found that it did not impede my enjoyment of this novel.

[Abimbola · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great read,it's about the stealing of the monalisa painting by leonardo davinci.art thief tom kirk turn good link up with C.I.A. agent jennifer brownie to try to stop milo from accomplishing his goal.lot of deception and twist which takes them to the time of napoleon when he hung the monalisa painting ontop of his bed.he kept a secret by painting on top of it and his tripto egypt b/w 1798-1802.there is a race to try to find the real painting.the monalisa painting in the louvre museum in Paris is fake.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but not particularly thrilling either. Took a long time to get through this as the action doesn't really kick in until the Louvre heist which takes place about half way through the book. From this point on, I was fairly hooked and read the rest of the book in a couple of days, but it had taken me 2 or 3 weeks to reach this point. I seem to remember his previous two books being more thrilling than this one and they didn't take as long to read - maybe its just me.

[Paula Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Characters are developed with great story line. Tom Kirk, a reformed art thief, is now on the side of the law...... but sometimes revert to his skills for the greater good. Has several "reformed" sidekicks. Love this series by James Twining.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the new life of thief turned art detective Tom Kirk continues, more questions are raised about his father & others in hi life. Each of Twining's novels can be read as seperately or as part of a series.

[Daniel Solen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters were interesting, and the constant battle between the art thieves to con one another reminded me of the ocean 11 movies. The plot was great, and the balance between character development, action, planning the heist, etc. was just right. I plan on reading more books by this author.

[Kaylol · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome book!
The only regret I have is reading this before reading the previous books in the Tom Kirk storyline.
What I loved most is the story - it's exciting, it's fast paced and it always leaves you guessing. I just couldn't stop reading.

[Ioannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third one in the series. It was better than the second that was better than the first! A very fast story with likable characters. All the informations about art are true. Can't wait to read the fourth one.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts from this book:
Mona Lisa known as La Joconde in FRANCE.
1800 to 1804 Napoleon hung the painting in his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace.
Painting was stolen in 1911. Thief was arrested two years later when trying to sell it to the Uffizi.

[Jonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

very fast, fun read

[Bettynz (Larraine) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yup, you were right, it was a bit compulsive!! I think I finished it within one 24hr day! Fairly high body count, but on the whole a quite good read.