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The sinister and provocative thriller from crime writing’s freshest new voice.
Ethan Muller is struggling to establish his reputation as a dealer in the cut-throat world of contemporary art when he stumbles onto a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: in a decaying New York slum, an elderly tenant named Victor Cracke has disappeared, leaving behind an enormous trove of original artwork. Nobody can say anything for certain about Cracke except that he came and went in solitude for nearly forty years, his genius hidden and unacknowledged.
All that is about to change.
So what if, strictly speaking, the art doesn’t belong to Ethan? He can sell it—and he does just that, mounting a wildly successful show. Buyers clamor. Critics sing. Museums are interested, and Ethan’s photo looks great in The New York Times.
And that’s when things go to hell.
Suddenly the police are interested in talking to him. It seems that Victor Cracke had a nasty past, and the drawings hanging in the Muller Gallery have begun to look a lot less like art and a lot more like evidence.
Is Cracke a genius? A murderer? Both? Is there a difference? Sucked into an investigation four decades cold, Ethan will uncover a secret legacy of shame and death, one that touches horrifyingly close to home.
Kellerman’s tight, assured prose is electrifying, exhilarating, and compulsively readable. Part confessional, part philosophical inquiry, The Genius is the detective novel reimagined like never before.
Reviews for The Genius
Kellerman has a gift for creating compelling characters as well as for crafting an ingenious plot that grabs the reader and refuses to let go.
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Great read.
- People Magazine
A suspense story has to take over your mind, leaving you disoriented (and feeling a little foolish) when you look up at the end. Jesse Kellerman makes this act of self-hypnosis easy… The kind of writer who collects voices the way beachcombers pick up buckets of shells… Listen to that voice long enough and it becomes as mesmerizing as the radiant horrors of Victor’s psychotically deranged art.
- The New York Times Book Review
A masterful plot and dead-on pacing.
- Entertainment Weekly
Brilliant… Kellerman’s three stand-alone novels have been different; the only template he has followed has been quality novels expertly executed. The Genius fits well into Kellerman’s standards.
- Florida Sun-Sentinel
This deftly plotted novel rivets the reader. It’s a mystery, but like the best crime fiction, it is much more… [Kellerman] has a playwright’s gift for creating fully-fleshed, complex characters with distinctive voices. A must-buy.
- Booklist (starred review)
Hard to resist.
- Arizona Republic
Excellent psychological suspense…that will haunt the audience due to the superb characterizations… Plenty of twists and shockers…
- Mystery Gazette
My son is a genius.
- my mom
[T]here’s no denying the gripping power of the inventive plot, nor the depth of the characters.
- Chicago Sun-Times
Completely unpredictable. This utterly fascinatingjourney…is just as riveting for the way it develops as for the final outcome. (Top Pick: 4.5 stars)
- Romantic Times
A most accomplished novel by a writer of great imagination and skill.
- The Telegraph (UK)
An enthralling, character-driven drama.
- The Daily Record (UK)
Kellerman is a master of menace.
- Daily Mail (UK)
[Ed.: Indeed I am. Boo!]
