The Swan Thieves

Title: The Swan Thieves

Author: Elizabeth Kostova

Pages: 16 discs?

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Andrew Marlowe is a single psychiatrist, satisfied with his life working at a full-time care center. He is devoted to painting and intrigued when the renowned painter Robert Oliver is entrusted into his care after he attacks a painting with a knife in the National Gallery. As Dr. Marlowe begins to try and unravel the mystery of Oliver's illness he crosses his own ethical boundaries in his search for more information about the obsessions of Robert Oliver.

My Review: As you may know, Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel, The Historian, is one of my favorite books. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this book, her second novel. The Swan Thieves dives deep into painting, 100-year-old love letters and French Impressionism with Dr. Marlowe trying to unravel the mystery between them and it never really caught my fancy. I felt that the plot was fairly weak and the story slow as I found myself daydreaming quite often while I was listening to the book. That being said, from reading other reviews online, there are quite a number of people with whom the book really resonated.