The Forgery of Venus

Welcome to the world of Chaz Wilmot, a struggling artist with more talent than ambition. Michael Gruber's new release The Forgery of Venus is a stunning look into the mind of a man slowly sinking into a world where the lines between past and present are twisted into a Twilight Zone-like existence.

Chaz Wilmot is a painter that lacks his own creative identity, but is able to put brush to canvas and expertly reproduce the styles and actual works of the great artists of the past such as Goya and Matisse. Frustrated by his inability to discover his own muse, Wilmot ekes out a living by creating magazine illustrations that replicate the styles and imagery of the old masters. His works include a magazine spread showing today's tabloid stars as painted by artists from the past. Picture Angelina Jolie as envisioned by DaVinci.

In a desperate attempt to bolster his income so he can provide for his children, especially his son who is suffering from a lung disorder, Chaz participates in a medical drug study involving an experimental hallucinogen. After his first session, Wilmot experiences an out of body experience that has him living in the 17th century as the famous painter Velazquez. Over time, and even after he stops using the drug, these living in the past experiences increase in frequency and his sense of reality is suspect as he bounces around the time stream.

Meanwhile, Chaz has taken on a job from a shady gangster to reproduce a famous, but missing, Velazquez painting. The job promises to pay a substantial sum, and Chaz sees this as an opportunity to provide the medical treatment his son so desperately needs. As he labors to complete the painting, it becomes unclear who is actually doing the work. Is it Chaz, suffering from paranoid delusions of living as Velazquez? Iis Chaz really a modern reincarnation of the artist himself? Or is the truth somewhere in the middle?

A stylish thriller in the historical vein of Gruber's previous work The Book of Air and Shadows and the far too infamous The DaVinci Code, The Forgery of Venus offers a compelling story of man's struggle with reality, and a colorful and insightful perspective into the world of modern and classic art. I've never been a real fan, much less a connoisseur, of fine art, but I often found myself jotting down notes on some of the works of art referenced in the book for later googling.

The book requires an investment of time and thought, as it doesn't fall into the typical "page turner" mystery category. But it does reward the reader with new perspectives on the slippery concept of sanity and the validity of art in a technological world. The story gives a very unique spin to the "whodunnit" genre, as the question is not just who, but when.

Highly recommended.

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