Product Description

A fabulous "lost masterpiece" becomes the ultimate prize for an art historian whose ambition consumes everyone around her, an angry young painter with a plan for revenge on the art establishment, and a desperate gallery owner who may have double-crossed his own life away...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168690 in Books
• Published on: 1986-07-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
Praise for Ken Follett: "Follett really knows how to tell a story." "[He] ratchets up the Richter scale of suspense."

About the Author
Ken Follett is the author of numerous international bestsellers, including Jackdaws, Hornet Flight, Code to Zero, Triple, Eye of the Needle, Pillars of the Earth, and A Dangerous Fortune. He lives in England.

Michael York is Principal Lecturer, Sophia Centre for the Study of Cultural Astronomy and Astrology, and Director of the Bath Archive for Contemporary Religious Affairs, Bath Spa University College, UK.

Customer Reviews

Mediocre Follett is still better than a lot of writing
This book is dated, and the plot took a while to sink in for me. However, once I got into the swing of things, I enjoyed this book very much.

Because the amount of artwork by any given artist is finite, discovering that there may be an undiscovered work by a famous artist is a huge discovery in the art world. When an art student studying abroad hears that not all of Modigliani's works are available, she delightedly decides to find the one that was reputedly hidden during the War.

The many twists of the plot are difficult to follow until they tie together at the end of the book. The plots do fit nicely! but it is confusing to follow throughout the body of the book.

This is not Ken Follett's best work. However, for an early work, it's quite good; furthermore, it's a lot better than a lot of the drek that some authors are trying to pass off as literature.

An early Follett novel only most ardent fans will moderately enjoy
There's not much to say in reviewing the Modigliani Scandal, an early Follett novel published before he hit it big with the World War II thriller "Eye of the Needle." In a forward for the version I read, Follett acknowledges that this little story about art dealers, artists and thieves in London doesn't have much depth. Still, it is fun to read and to see traces of the greatness that is to come. There really aren't any main characters, just a bunch of story lines that all merge together in the end. The plot concerns the chase for a rare painting by a famous Italian artist, Modigliani. The plot also follows a Lucian Black as he tries to open his own art gallery. The book is short and easy to read, and if you're a Follett fan, I recommend you read this, but I don't think I'd recommend that you pay money for it. It's just not that good of a book.

Entertaining
I found this book outside a small bookshop while i was strolling the streets of Amsterdam. I was on my summer holidays from Ireland and was quite lost. Being an avid Follet reader i snatched it up immediately.
Lets call a spade a spade. The book lacks depth, character development or any sign of tension. However, it was an entertaining read for a person who was travelling by train around Europe and was often stuck for english material. by Follets own admission the book didn't turn out the way he had planned. nobody would try to argue that this book is anywhere as good as 'pillars' but at the end of the day it is still a good entertaining read.