Saving Caravaggio

by Neil Griffiths

Under a searing Calabrian sky, detective Daniel Wright is shown the world�s most famous stolen painting � Caravaggio�s Nativity . As a Caravaggio lover and expert in art recovery, he is determined to rescue it from the mafia bosses who use it as payment for drug deals and assassinations. Risking his marriage, his career and his life, Daniel defies his superiors and goes beyond the law with the help of Uffizi Gallery curator Francesca Natali in a desperate bid to save the Caravaggio before it is lost forever. But will he become the hero of the art establishment, or has he dangerously underestimated its mafia underworld? Saving Caravaggio is a thrilling story of intrigue and personal crusades, that combines the dark atmosphere of Naples with a determined pursuit of passion.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Audiobook, Art, Italy

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Julie C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good to start. Lost it in the middle. Week ending!!!!!!!!

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! This book...really sucked me in. I laughed, I blushed, I gasped and exclaimed right out loud. Best book I've read in ten years. Not since The Fountainhead have I felt like such a voyeur. I highly recommend reading this one BEFORE you read his first book, Betrayal in Naples. Otherwise, you just know too much to be stunned by what happens here. I found it in the BM Bookshop in Florence. A lot of the action takes place in Florence, but it wasn't just that fact that made me fall in love. You get inside the protagonists head. You feel him. You believe in him. I fell in love with Neil Griffiths.

[Amy Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to read this. I even tracked down a secondhand copy as it is no longer in print. Despite being short listed for a Costa award I think I know why this might be. It was bad. Not badly written but still bad. The plot was good and kept you reading but to no satisfactory conclusion. Also the main character was a bit irritating. I was fooled by the inclusion of Caravaggio's name in the title. But I think the author was just using it to try and do something clever. Very disappointed.

[Dana Purgaru · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've ever read.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great subject, poorly written.

[Teresa D · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has to be one of the worst books I have ever read.

[clara.stw · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 ⭐️

maybe i had too many expectations: i was so excited to start this book right while studying caravaggio in school. i don’t even know why i was so disappointed and why it took me so long to finish.
i mean the concept is brilliant. the descriptions are realistic and the author/protagonist’s insight of mafia is more accurate than i hoped for.

to be honest i simply found it slow. i would have put it down, but i kept hoping for a twist in the end that would make it worth the read. instead it was confused delirium and failure. this book isn’t about saving a caravaggio, it’s about a man projecting the failure and disappointment of his marriage onto his work (with the same results).

the novel has so much potential i’m really really sad i won’t be giving it 3 or even 4 stars.

[Cheryl Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to pick this up in a second hand shop seduced by the title, having found Caravaggio in Pio della Misericordia.

I enjoyed it a great deal - the internal assessments, the self reflection, the tensions. The novelistic turn of the ending was annoying but overall a great exciting and at times unsettling read.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I am not enjoying the clipped writing style, the deluge of details for every little movement and mundane thing the characters do. This needs an editor to cut it down to size. I wanted to read it because of the premise but life is too short to read books that make you want to skip them and yell "get on with it!" at them

[Gerald Sinstadt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dreary, gloomy, depressing - Neil Griffiths' style is as contagious as his viewpoint is dour. As an insight into the ambivalent ways of the world of art theft, Saving Caravaggio feels authentic. As a portrait of a failed marriage between two incompatible people it is plausible. Somewhere in there are the materials for a good novel but sadly this isn't it. On the cover there is light and shade; in the pages there is only gloom. There is narrative and there is psychological introspection, but they never intertwine satisfactorily. The plot moves forward, then stops to examine a relationship or a personality or a painting before the plot moves on again. The dénouement contrives to be both predictable and arbitrary.

And there remains the impression that Mr Griffiths wrote with Roget's Thesaurus at his side. So the style is prolix, wordy, prosy. A pity.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This could have been a good book - the subject matter was what made me want to read this, but the way it was written was dreadful.. The sentences were choppy, and short - it left no room for character development. Were I to rec'd. a book about someone trying to recover this stolen painting, I would direct them to the true story The Caravaggio Conspiracy by Peter Watson. This is a true story of Peter Watson going undercover to try to get the painting back.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fell apart a bit at the very end, but engrossing the whole way through.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this as an introduction to the art world

[Joe Wroe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book up until the end.

[Ann Tonks · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were parts of this book that were fascinating but ultimately the self-obsession of the hero drove me to distraction and I just couldn't buy into the story line.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark novel. Interesting and kept me guessing....surprising