Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

In the predawn hours of a gloomy February day in 1994, two thieves entered the National Gallery in Oslo and made off with one of the world's most famous paintings, Edvard Munch's Scream. It was a brazen crime committed while the whole world was watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Baffled and humiliated, the Norwegian police turned to the one man they believed could help: a half English, half American undercover cop named Charley Hill, the world's greatest art detective.

The Rescue Artist is a rollicking narrative that carries readers deep inside the art underworld -- and introduces them to a large and colorful cast of titled aristocrats, intrepid investigators, and thick-necked thugs. But most compelling of all is Charley Hill himself, a complicated mix of brilliance, foolhardiness, and charm whose hunt for a purloined treasure would either cap an illustrious career or be the fiasco that would haunt him forever.

Average Customer Rating:

Not as Interesting as the da Vinic Code	Customer Rating:
This is an interesting story about art theft, in general, and specifically the theft of Edvard Munch's The Scream. I found the interworkings of undercover police work fascinating. However, it is not as the story of the recovery is not as fascinating.

So So story telling, good story	Customer Rating:
The subject was very interesting and it will probably be made into a good crime movie, but the writing was average and the plotline jumbled....

Informative but tedious at points

Customer Rating:

Starting out with a detailed recounting of the 1994 theft of Edvard Munch's iconic painting entitled "Scream," the book ends with its recovery. Sandwiched in the middle is a lumbering tale about Dolnick's hero, a Scotland Yard cop of American British lineage, who specializes in art recovery. Dolnick is a fine writer; his dialogue flows and his descriptions are colorful and paint a good scene. His research and grasp of the art theft world and its motley crew is complete. He enthuses so much over his hero that it weighs down the story to the point where the structure of the book compares to a canoe; sharp at the ends and bulging out in the middle.

A good, really fast read

Customer Rating:

The Rescue artist is a swift and exciting book that revolves around Charlie Hill, an unforgettable (and quite real) detective on the hunt for missing masterpieces, in this case Edvard Munch's classic "Scream" stolen from a museum in Oslo, Norway. Dolnick writes crisp, well-turned sentences that pull the reader along. I felt like I was reading a good, long magazine article, like in the New Yorker. At times the story jumps and shifts around too much, and I had to backtrack a couple times to pick up what was going on, but this is really good stuff, entertaining as can be. Highly recommend.

Interesting, but too long and digressive.

Customer Rating:

If the reader is interested in a fast pace and action, then this book will not satisfy. The basic story is not a lengthy one. The digressions into background matters provide useful peeks into assorted issues, such as thievery, forgery and the art world, but go on for too long and should have been condensed. I found myself impatient for the story to move forward. The sheer number of delays and digressions bordered on comical.