The Immaculate Deception

Can't go wrong with Ian Pears.

Immaculate Deception was very well written, very engaging, and really worth reading.

Another great Iain Pears Art History Mystery book!

This series has been so much fun!!!

I did not finish this book and am shocked that it was written by the author of The Instance of the Fingerpost, which I enjoyed several years ago, and Stone's Fall which I am reading right now. Those are intricate, detailed stories and drew me into their world. I took Immaculate Deception to occupy me while I waited in the doctor's office and it wasn't even sufficient for that.

OH how I love this series-this was my last one. I wish he would write more. Clever and entertaining.

This is an interesting entry in the art history series.To be frank up front, I love the series and could read a new one every week if they were published that fast!What is interesting in this book is the evolving situation of the characters - their lives are moving along, the situations that first triggered the series are changing (for example, Bottando's retirement), so there is a bit of a Shake Things Up quality to it.For those who like characters to never age or change, that could be disconcerting, but for those who enjoy the characters as characters and not just a cogs in the wheel of a plot, it is delightful.The plot as usual is fascinating and carefully worked out, and it keeps moving along quickly so you have to make sure to pay attention along the way.As usual the art history background creates not only the springboard for the story but a lot of atmosphere. Just picturing yourself in the locales the characters find themselves in is part of the fun.Even if you are not a big art fan, you can enjoy this book. The art angle does not overwhelm the story. I like an "arty" background to a mystery - my own murder mystery, Opera Can Be Murder , features the world of opera as the setting.But even if you are just a "mystery fan" this book will be a real page turner!

"The Immaculate Deception" By Iain Pears is dull, bloodless, convoluted, and a waste of reading time. The author has sucked all life and air out of what has the potential of being a great story. The characters don't click. The marriage between the husband and wife, art historian Jonathan Argyll and art thefts squad cop Flavia is only four weeks old and one of the coldest and most sexless relationships in recent fiction. They go traipsing off all over Italy on separate missions regarding the same case without even notifying one another, and they show no connubial bliss whatsoever.The book is about art thefts, a ransom, revolutionaries, political shenanigans/deviousness, intrigue, and a grisly murder. Characterization is not Pears strong suit; he is okay at describing what characters do, but less adept at telling who they are as people. Some characters are cardboard cut-outs who have little humanity, be it good or evil. Readers will find it hard to become involved with characters who don't emerge as people from the printed page. A spark of vigor is needed in each person. General Bottando, art thief Mary Verney, and revolutionary Elena Fortini are somewhat interesting as characters.The telling details and sense of place are lacking. Italy itself seems shadowy and vague. The author is good at his specialty, art works, but lax on the little mannerisms and tics that could make his characters come alive. The whole thing is an intellectual exercise which doesn't course with the life force that gives a book vitality. Reading Pears has to be an acquired taste like drinking scotch. I can imagine a group of smug readers who find his stuff entrancing because they feel they are among the initiated, people who like his uncommon touch, his intellectual distance. I can imagine some rapt reader rhapsodizing, "I love my Pears." I could love Pears too if he'd shoot a little more blood coursing through the veins of his characters, particularly Argyll, and give his settings more oomph.The prose style is commendable, but it doesn't perk interest. Contrast this author's work with the work of Donna Leon and her fine series of mysteries about Venice. She creates a vivid sense of Venetian place, makes her characters breathe, and she gives the little details of daily life, of foods, and wines that make a story soar. She has a gentle story style but she is able to infuse her books with life. Pears puts so many twists and turns in his plot and criminal schemes that it becomes a maze for the reader.