 |
Grand Scale Larceny:
The Heist of the Flemish Primitives by Hugo Uyttenhove
book review by Omar Figueras
"In the shadow of the Cathedral of Our Lady on the main square in Antwerp, a group of Japanese tourists posed for pictures. They gazed at the center statute of the local legendary figure, Brabo, who is seen throwing a giant's hand across the Scheldt River."
Murder, intrigue, espionage and theft, all surrounding the most priceless art collection ever gathered from across Europe, are the first tastes one savors when beginning to devour Hugo Uyttenhove's Grand Scale Larceny. Its two principal plot lines gyrate in tight concentric circles and widen their scopes with each successive chapter. The foci of these converging storylines are Hannah Jacobs, a young art curator living in Washington D.C. who is compiling the priceless Flemish collection for the once in a lifetime art exhibition, and Absan Golice, the bold Chechen gangster operating in Moscow, who is being undermined by members of the Russian mob with whom he has conspired to assist him to steal this collection.
Uyttenhove shows the social and political conditions of the EU, both past and present, as he slowly unveils the power of these highly coveted Flemish masterworks and how they are held in esteem, both at the time of their creation and how they are viewed in present day. With plot lines filled with twists and turns, these two seemingly disparate worlds of crime and art converge in New York and Moscow in an explosive ending.
The author's choice of a close third person point of view, which jumps from character to character, through spoken word or internal, reflective monologue, while traveling from city to city across the globe, provides the reader with an array of voices and perspectives from all stations of life. Uyttenhove's writing style is similar to the interpretation of art itself: varied and personal, yet unifying and global, all in one fell swoop. A study of arts role in society and how its apprized historically, culturally and individually, Uyttenhove's book is essentially an examination of how people across the globe, and from all walks of life, are willing to risk their lives for art. This book will surely keep the reader riveted from beginning to end.