The Girl With the Botticelli Eyes [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

I happened upon this book and, being an art history major, was intrigued by the title. I enjoyed the book very much, especially because I live in NYC, and am a constant visitor to the MMA. While the scholarship might be a bit tighter, one need not really know that much about SANDRO BOTTICELLI (ahem to "Thriller's Editor" above) to find the book a worthwhile read. The story is more for enjoyment than a guide to how to steal art and should be approached as such. If you are heading out to Central Park for the afternoon, be sure to bring The Girl with the Botticelli Eyes along with your blanket and bottled water! Set up by the museum and you can be certain of a fun afternoon in the shadow of the setting of our hero's trails and tribulations!

Whatever happened to the Italian fascists? Did they all end up like Mussolini, hanging ignominiously from lampposts? Not exactly. If this thriller by Herbert Lieberman is any guide, they went underground and kept on doing what they do best: bullying the weak, resenting the strong, and indulging their passion for ghoulish ritual.

Their champion of the day is a wealthy dilettante named Ludovico Borghini ('Ludo' to his friends, 'Maestro' to his toadies), who is determined to save Italy's rich cultural heritage from foreigners, even if it means destroying it. Last in the line of a powerful old Roman family, Borghini is almost immune to the law as he kills and maims and carries out his program for the reinvigoration of Italy.

Borghini's shadowy presence makes a formidable opponent to Mark Manship, curator of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, who is out to assemble the pieces of a comprehensive show of the work of Sandro Botticelli. Since this entails taking any number of pictures out of Italy to New York, Manship becomes Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of Borghini. All Italians who come into contact with the American curator are seriously imperiled, especially a beautiful young woman said to be a direct descendant of one of Botticelli's models. Manship finds himself falling in love with her even as he has unknowingly put her in harm's way. By the time Borghini runs his tentacles out for her, Manship is back in New York struggling against a more quotidian villain, the pompous windbag chairman of the museum's board of directors. The woman, Isobel Cattaneo, is on her own as she faces a truly horrific fate in the Villa Borghini at the hands of its demented lord.

It's all very gripping and realistic, with the possible exception of Harbor Rest, the place where Borghini stays when he comes to New York, an '1840s farmhouse with wraparound porch...wedged in between a sooty row of warehouse and derelict tenement buildings'. It's been a long time since there were any farmhouses in the shadow of the World Trade Center. But this is a minor detail. Overall, the settings and characters are true to life.

Disclaimer: Don't read this unless you want to know some of the details of the plot. When I picked up this book for a mother's day present in 1998, I had no idea what I had stumbled upon. Sure, the idea of mystery and art has been around for ages, but this one is a little different. This is the best researched work of contemporary modern suspense fiction that I have ever read. Herbert Lieberman has taken fascism (both in Mussolini and Hitler-esq aspects), visual artwork from the Quattrocento Italian time period, relationships between contemporary artists (in this case curators and actors), and the most twisted and disturbing aspects of murder and treachery since the body suit that Jame Gumb makes for himself in "Silence of the Lambs", and puts it all together in a way that will keep you reading until it is finished--and only wanting more in the process. Ludovico Borghini and his apprentice Beppe Falco are two of the seediest, dodgiest characters that I have ever read about in fiction. These are not just corrupt radicals, or your every day serial killers... they take their art seriously (meaning the art of Italians, not their own personal works.) I personally was mortified and appauled by the "tanning process" which takes pages upon pages to read through. I won't explain anymore about that, because one truly needs to read it for ones self. However, one aspect that I personally found quite appealing was the historical background of Borghini: we learn of his family's importance and how he viewed the murder of his mother committed by his father: Of course the kid is going to be messed up--who wouldn't slash priceless works of art (or do something equally disturbing) if that were the case.
Isobel Catteneo is another truly interesting character. She is a quintessential European.. and one can tell that no American would ever act like this descendent of the Simonetta. However, I believe that many Italians are quite like Isobel, making Lieberman's character completely unbelievable to many, but truly original to people that have met someone that is hiding from their family's past. Isobel Catteneo is one character that I doubt that I will ever forget. The same could be said for Beppe and Ludovico.
The plot takes one through Italy-to the joys of the Uffizi, Istanbul, Germany, and all over New York. I agree with the other reviewer that states the Harbor Rest is not quite believable, but it is hardly a major point in the plot. The plot in and of itself is unpredictable in ways that keep a reader on his/her toes, continually seeking what is going to come next. I must admit, the Manship scenes were a bear to get through because I kept wanting to find out more about Borghini and Cattaneo.
Well done Mr. Lieberman. I hope that you are in good health and continue to write more suspense fiction for the ones in your public that really do crave art and knowledge of culture. I, for one, would have gone to the Botticelli exhibit to view the masterpieces, not to impress high up friends. Hopefully there are more of us out there, and if so... they should all read this book.