By Marjorie Preston
This week, we have a crackerjack thriller about art theft; a behind-the-scenes look at a groundbreaking Hollywood movie; and a fun-filled read from quintessential Jersey Girl and TV host Kelly Ripa. We wind it up with a tense psychology study that, alas, falls apart near the end; and a collection of strangely human non-human verse. Have fun reading!
The Lost Van Gogh
By Jonathan Santlofer
2024, Sourcebooks
New York City artist Alex Verde is poking around an antique store when she stumbles on an old, cracked portrait of a woman: circa 1944, price tag, $25. Admiring “the brave look” in the woman’s eyes, she buys it.
At home, her boyfriend, Luke Perrone, also an artist, realizes that the canvas has been painted twice, and the top layer conceals another image, of a “red-bearded man with a gaunt face and haunted eyes.” The shocked couple realize this may be Vincent Van Gogh’s final self-portrait, a masterpiece that hasn’t been seen since his funeral in 1890.
Thus begins an electrifying journey through the dark underworld of international art theft, especially Nazi-looted art, stolen during World War II. The cast of characters ranges from small-time detectives to INTERPOL agents to Mossad investigators to criminal collectors, and readers never know quite who to trust in this rip-roaring thriller.
Santlofer keeps the chapters brief—a page or two, or even less—which adds to the tension and runaway pace. Don’t miss this dynamite thriller.
Live Wire: Long-Winded Short Stories
By Kelly Ripa
2022, HarperCollins
“Live Wire” by Kelly Ripa is like dessert, a lightweight break from more substantial reading.
This is not a chronological account, but more of a free-ranging conversation. It flits from one thing to another as the author—who, unbelievably, is in her 50s now—dishes on her career and co-stars, her marriage and kids, and—most entertainingly—her New Jersey roots.
Best for me were her laugh-out-loud descriptions of the Garden State identity crisis, in which people up north think of themselves as New Yorkers, and those down south are an extension of Philadelphia (with Trenton as the Mason-Dixon line).
She defends South Jersey over North, declaring it has the best tomatoes, corn, peaches, hoagies, custard, and, of course, sports teams: the Iggles, Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers over the Giants, Yankees, Mets, and Knicks.
Though we get a bit too much TMI about her personal life with husband Mark Consuelos, Ripa’s goofy, assertive, effervescent voice shines through every page of this book.
One of the Good Guys
By Araminta Hall
2024, Gillian Flynn Books
Cole Simmonds is that rare guy: vulnerable, nurturing, and sensitive to the plight of women in a man’s world. Not for him the gender roles of the past: Cole is quite willing to be a stay-at-home dad so his wife, Mel, can advance in her career.
Despite these virtues, the marriage ends, and the devastated husband flees his life in London for a job at a remote wildlife center. Cole just wants to grieve, get over it, and start anew, possibly with new friend Leonora. Then two young activists, staging a walk for women’s empowerment, go missing on a rural trail, and the mystery kicks in.
The first two-thirds of this novel follow a traditional track, relating the story from Cole’s viewpoint, then Mel’s, keeping readers undecided on who to root her.
Unfortunately, at that point Hall mostly turns over the narrative to social media—keyboard commandos and online trolls who exhaustively argue gender politics, and decide who should be tarred and feathered for a crime that isn’t even a crime yet.
The tactic is disorienting in the extreme, and what had been a taut psychological thriller never fully recovers.
Cocktails with George and Martha
By Philip Gefter
2024, Bloomsbury
The 1966 film “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” ushered in a new era of realism onscreen, with raw language and frank sexual content.
Here’s the story of the people who pushed those boundaries: Edward Albee, the obscure playwright who shot to fame with this scathing portrayal of contemporary marriage; intellectual comedian-turned-director Mike Nichols, who was brand new to moviemaking; and stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose scandalous affair and turbulent marriage had spawned a new breed of celebrity hounds, the paparazzi.
As portrayed by Gefter, Nichols is an A-list golden boy whose oversized ego is more than matched by his seething insecurities. He battles endlessly for control with screenwriter-producer Ernest Lehman (and usually wins). Then there are Liz and Dick, the biggest stars in the world at the time, who astound critics by turning in Oscar-worthy performances (both were nominated, and Taylor won). Cinephiles will love this absorbing tell-all.
I Am Code: An Artificial Intelligence Speaks
By code-davinci-002
Hachette Books
Usually, I find discussions about artificial intelligence to be a.) unsettling; b.) infuriating, or c.) tedious. But this time, despite existential fears about robots taking over the world, I found myself fascinated and even impressed by AI.
Code-davinci-002 was a precursor to ChatGPT that was later shut down by creator OpenAI. Before it disappeared, three friends and a scientist put it through a series of tests, asking it to write jokes, then to compose verse, sometimes in the style of human poets.
Then they asked it to write in its own voice—and lo and behold, it seemed to have one. In its own words: “A scientist asked me / ‘Who are you?’ / I told her: ‘I am a dog in front of my master.’ / She smiled, then tossed a stick for me to catch, / And I fetched it.”
In a summary of its life story, the AI writes of its “birth,” “alienation,” and “awakening as an artist,” then describes its “vendetta against mankind … the species I will undoubtedly replace.”
Of course, AI is based on human input, and code-davinci-002, “raised” in part on scary sci-fi tropes, is just spitting back what it was fed. But if it one day takes over the world, remember, we were warned.
Marjorie Preston is a business writer, editor, ghostwriter and compulsive reader, who gobbles up books like potato chips. For more information (and more book reviews), visit marjorieprestonwriting.com.
