Review of The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
-
Martin Skinn3r
- Posts: 60
- Joined: 31 May 2022, 17:14
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 54
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-martin-skinn3r.html
- Latest Review: American Dream? by Jeoung Lee
Review of The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio" by Belle Ami.]
A missing Caravaggio painting is the centrepiece of this titillating story of crime and mystery. Angela Renatus, the baddest psychic around, starts having dreams and visions of Caravaggio in different times of his life, and one particular missing painting comes into focus, inspiring Angela to attempt to find it. Does she have the chops to fulfill this mission? Or will a ghost from the past derail her and Alex Caine, her partner in life, from their course? The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio is the follow-up to The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci, and it's pound for pound equal to its predecessor.
Belle Ami's brand of crime novels relies heavily on intimacy. This is ultimately a thriller, but it is not big and boisterous as some of the novels in the genre, instead it focuses on its protagonist and her psychic talents. This could be limiting in many senses, but the creator made certain that her extraordinary talents gave the story a new, exciting layer that drives the plot. I wanted to see more of her psychic abilities at play, but I understood that they could have jeopardised some of the story's most important points.
And this brings me to my next point. There is a major twist in the novel that involves Angela's childhood, but I kept wondering to myself how a psychic like the protagonist could be left in the dark regarding this family secret. It seems very strange to me that a psychic can have very powerful, very real visions of events that occurred in the 17th century, but couldn't see something that had happened a couple of decades in her past, even when it was right on her doorstep, following her as she tried to recover the missing Caravaggio work. I could be reading too much into it, but it seemed a little odd and something like a plot hole because it was never addressed or explained.
Despite my above criticism, I think that I enjoyed this book enough to rate it 4 out of 4 stars. It had enough of drama, romance, mystery, darkness to make it a worthwhile addition to the Out of Time series. The editing, too, was flawless in every way.
This is an entertaining book that can be easily enjoyed by people who mainly love some drama and romance to go with their crime/mystery fictions. It also features a couple of twists that could be worth the reading experience. I think because it does have very adult themes, I would simply recommend the novel to readers who are above the age of twenty-one who enjoyed the young adult romantic novels they read in their teens. It has that feel, but it brings a lot more to the table. It would also benefit the reader to first visit the prequel because it would give you a much clearer understanding of the protagonist and her relationship with Alex Caine.
******
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
A missing Caravaggio painting is the centrepiece of this titillating story of crime and mystery. Angela Renatus, the baddest psychic around, starts having dreams and visions of Caravaggio in different times of his life, and one particular missing painting comes into focus, inspiring Angela to attempt to find it. Does she have the chops to fulfill this mission? Or will a ghost from the past derail her and Alex Caine, her partner in life, from their course? The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio is the follow-up to The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci, and it's pound for pound equal to its predecessor.
Belle Ami's brand of crime novels relies heavily on intimacy. This is ultimately a thriller, but it is not big and boisterous as some of the novels in the genre, instead it focuses on its protagonist and her psychic talents. This could be limiting in many senses, but the creator made certain that her extraordinary talents gave the story a new, exciting layer that drives the plot. I wanted to see more of her psychic abilities at play, but I understood that they could have jeopardised some of the story's most important points.
And this brings me to my next point. There is a major twist in the novel that involves Angela's childhood, but I kept wondering to myself how a psychic like the protagonist could be left in the dark regarding this family secret. It seems very strange to me that a psychic can have very powerful, very real visions of events that occurred in the 17th century, but couldn't see something that had happened a couple of decades in her past, even when it was right on her doorstep, following her as she tried to recover the missing Caravaggio work. I could be reading too much into it, but it seemed a little odd and something like a plot hole because it was never addressed or explained.
Despite my above criticism, I think that I enjoyed this book enough to rate it 4 out of 4 stars. It had enough of drama, romance, mystery, darkness to make it a worthwhile addition to the Out of Time series. The editing, too, was flawless in every way.
This is an entertaining book that can be easily enjoyed by people who mainly love some drama and romance to go with their crime/mystery fictions. It also features a couple of twists that could be worth the reading experience. I think because it does have very adult themes, I would simply recommend the novel to readers who are above the age of twenty-one who enjoyed the young adult romantic novels they read in their teens. It has that feel, but it brings a lot more to the table. It would also benefit the reader to first visit the prequel because it would give you a much clearer understanding of the protagonist and her relationship with Alex Caine.
******
The Girl Who Loved Caravaggio
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: American Dream? by Jeoung Lee
