A True Pleasure To Read
Rating:
5 / 5
Norman Bogner's new novel, "The Deadliest Art", is fantastic! It is a sequel to "To Die In Provence", but it can easily be read on its own. If you read this book, you'll definitely want to read the first book anyway. The story follows French detective Michel Danton as he struggles to honor his promise to his new bride to give up his dangerous work, while being presented with a case of unimaginable horror. The book alternates between the actions of the criminals and their pursuers in a non-synchronous manner that works perfectly. "To Die In Provence" was a great mystery, plunging one into the customs and culture of the South of France. "The Deadliest Art" surpasses it, with an even deeper immersion into French psyche and attitude, coupled with an exploration of the Venice of Southern California. As you are simultaneously drawn into the madhouse of the killers and Michel Danton's increasing desperation, you won't be able to put this book down!
As clever as "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari"
Rating:
5 / 5
While agreeing with the other readers' comments, I was most fascinated by the storytelling device that Norman Bogner invented in this novel: Unsynchronized chronology of converging stories. This differs from standard thriller technique in which the point of view swings back and forth between the good guy and bad guy like the arm of a metronome or clock pendulum, with the story driven by advancing time.The novel opens in Provence, France, where Bogner reintroduces us to Det. Michael Danton and art historian Jennifer Bowen, now in a state of prenuptial bliss. Next, a continent away in Venice, California, Bogner introduces murderous Garrett Lee Brant "and his beautiful Eve" who are just stepping out for a millennium New Year's party hosted mammary-enhanced Heather Malone, Garrett's benefactor and sometime lover. Garrett is a frustrated artist who is fascinated by Gauguin, with whom he "holds regular conversations." (His back story reveals the ability to speak in a number of voices.) Garrett has received no recognition for his work on canvas but is enjoying enormous commercial success doing tatoos on the Venice (CA) boardwalk. Eve is skilled in the art of makeup. Switch to Provence where Michael is called to investigate a girl's body washed up on the beach. Switch back to Heather Malone's party, an upscale S&M affair. Heather introduces to Mr. Jan Korteman, a Belgian photographer who specializes in high-grade pornography. Eve makes her own moves and a four-way psychological sex drama unfolds. And thus two "parallel" stories evolve, with Michael investigating the girl's death and consoling the parents and with Jan taking Garrett and Eve to live as his house guests in Belgium where they engage in a sinister artistic collaboration. The stories evolve asynchronously: The protagonists working slowly to stop the crimes that the antagonists have yet to commit. This yarn is not driven by the beat of a metronome. It is driven by the fascination of the reader who realizes that by the end of the book the two stories must converge. As the book begins to run out of pages, the antagonists' story accelerates and catches up with the protagonists, with fascinating and deadly results. Bogner has invented a new technique in thriller fiction: Converging stories told in warped time. And as if this was not clever enough, Bogner throws in one final twist which will make the reader pinch himself, turn back to the first page and read the story once more. "The Deadliest Art" is high art, every bit as clever as "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari."
Review of Deadliest Art & To Die In Provence
Rating:
5 / 5
Some might have said that Norman Bogner was playing bad poker and attempting to draw to an inside straight when he wrote `To Die In Provence' in 1998. After all, he was a writer of mainstream fiction -- Seventh Avenue, The Madonna Complex, California Dreamers, among others - and the Provence book is a mystery. But after you read it you find it is much more than a mystery. The major characters, Michel Danton, chief investigator for the Special Circumstances Section of the French Judicial Police, and Jennifer Bowen, an American art history professor, remain with you and breathe on, as well as a host of minor characters. You find that you want to know more and that is a sign of a good book. The author filled his straight and won the hand.
What is meant by `more than a mystery'? I mean that the author has widened the scope, brought more to the table. Mysteries usually present the good man or good woman, usually a detective or cop, who then pursues the bad guy who has perpetrated a crime on usually good folks. The progression is linear from start to finish with few detours. Subplots are usually absent along with any serious reflections from the hero, minor characters appear and disappear after they help the hero, the bad guys are caught, resolution is complete, and a new book will appear next year. Along the way it is sometimes difficult to suspend disbelief because the hero carries a 25 shot 6-shooter. Examples are MacDonald's Travis, Parker's Spenser, Grafton's Kinsey, Child's Reacher, White's Doc Ford and a thousand others. A lot of these are good men and women detecting, pursuing and catching the bad folks in very good books. I've read them and like them. Norman Bogner, on the other hand, takes a lot of time defining and exploring his characters. With precise use of literary hydrofloric acid he etches very real people in glass. Because the people are real they have flaws and sometimes the glass fractures because of internal struggles within the characters, as well as cracking under the pressure of the externals not under their control. The crimes, along with the accompanying mystery/detective motif, the setting in southern France, and the pyscho-killer, presented in `To Die In Provence' act as a catalyst to bring the strengths and weaknesses of Michel and Jennifer, as well as others, to the surface and we see them struggle and reflect and we wince and fret over them and we want them to `grow out of it' and overcome. We want to know the answer to the question, `If it doesn't kill you, does it make you stronger'?
Bogner uses the same deft strokes to paint the canvas of his settings and the minor characters evolving in the background. Whether we want to or not we painlessly and relentlessly learn about the town of Aix-en-Provence, a good French restaurant, food, wine, and the friends, acquaintances, and parents of Michel, the French Judicial system, and, most surprising and different, how a killer operates and what makes him tick within the clock of the mystery. As one reads larger, more encompassing, questions surface. How is a man's behavior affected by his origin? How can a rich young girl-woman be captivated by a killer? The latter, of course, is the `Manson' question. If you want to know how the author answers these, read the book
After an intervening book, `Honor Thy Wife', a `mainstream' novel, Norman Bogner has returned with another compelling mystery, `The Deadliest Art.' The author, not content with leaving Michel and Jennifer in literary limbo, brings them back in an even more intricate plot. While it is nice to have read the previous book, it is not at all necessary for Bogner, with wide reach and skill, reintroduces you with great detail. And a whole new set of questions is asked while the `mystery' evolves. A young girl's body washes ashore near Aix-en-Provence. Her back is disfigured. Why? Thus, the mystery is triggered. Danton takes charge of the investigation and the backgrounds change, ranging from the back alleys of San Antonio, Texas, to Bruges in Belgium, the ever present Provence in France and, finally, to Venice, California. Again we relentlessly but painlessly learn about art, food, places and people, French and American cultures and, amazingly, tattoos. While the mystery unfolds and the murders pile up so do the larger questions. Bogner attacks the question of why, especially in America, are we so intent on being someone else, where is the benefit in illusion, what is art, and where are we going. Along with this the author has created a killer and his accomplices so diabolical and sociopathic and tied and knotted them to art in such a clever way that future villains may be defined as Bogner-esque in scope. When the book finally and fittingly ends, it ends with exploding revelation in Venice, California. Today, standing on the Venice Boardwalk in front of the Small World Bookstore, both of which front the frequently polluted Pacific Ocean, one can watch the unending parade of current American Culture before you in all its glory. One can only smile and nod one's head at the author's choice of a concluding locale. And one realizes that `The Deadliest Art' has presented us with a slice of American culture presented as a reflection of ourselves. Whether we want to or not. If one has read `From Dawn To Decadence' by Jacques Barzun, that giant tome, or Morris Berman's, `The Twilight Of American Culture', or watched 95% of recent American movies or television, one cannot help but see the undercurrents in `The Deadliest Art.' The author has succeeded again in giving us not only a compelling mystery but a compelling novel. More important, he has asked tough questions. If you read one book, you'll want to read the other.
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