Iain Pears

Bookmarks, July-August, 2009 by Jessica Teisch

"Each of his characters grapples with the moral issues surrounding the ideas of loyalty and integrity when these are tested by war, the threat of torture and death. Each one has to decide, ultimately, between resistance and appeasement, to disentangle the wish for self-preservation from the reasoning which glosses self-deceiving ways of achieving it." MICHELE ROBERTS, TIMES (UK), 5/15/02

"The novel contains one of the most bone-chilling acts in modern literature. ... [Pears] provides no clear answers for the questions he raises. But he creates real people wrapped up in exciting times." LEN BARCOUSKY, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 11/17/02

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

The Portrait (2005)

Pears draws on his knowledge of art history in his third stand-alone novel, a 200-page monologue that, under the pretense of focusing on the relationship between artist and critic, delves into deeper themes of power, memory, crime, and retribution. A little less sprawling and complicated than his previous two novels, yet richer and more satisfying than his Jonathan Argyll mystery series, The Portrait is just that--a portrait of a single episode, a lone, fascinating rant. (**** SELECTION Sept/Oct 2005)

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THE STORY: Henry MacAlpine, a renowned British portraitist in 1900s London, has moved to a remote island off the coast of Brittany. He brings his colleague William Naysmith, England's most incisive art critic, to sit for a portrait. While Naysmith sits, silent, MacAlpine talks. We learn of the pair's friendship, of Naysmith's brilliance (he was one of the first in the London art scene to appreciate French impressionism), and of Naysmith's delight in power. MacAlpine and Pears both have something up their sleeves: over the course of this short, taut novel, it becomes clear that MacAlpine wants vengeance, because the power-mad Naysmith has destroyed the careers and lives of numerous artists. Or has he?

"Those too embarrassed to admit they enjoyed The Da Vinci Code will welcome Pears's smart little psychological thriller. ... Refreshingly, the critic doesn't have the last word; in fact, he's disconcertingly silent." DANA KENNEDY, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 5/22/05

THE NEW NOVEL

****

Stone's Fall

By Iain Pears

THE STORY: In Victorian Europe, the convergence of modern finance, industry, and politics changed the world forever. Through three interlocking stories, Stone's Fall explores this transformation. In London in 1909, John Stone (Lord Ravenscliff), a powerful financier and arms manufacturer, falls to his death--perhaps murdered. His will bestows his fortune to a love child that his glamorous but deceiving wife, Elizabeth, never knew existed. She hires a young journalist, Matthew Braddock, who starts to ask questions about Stone's vast empire and its connection to British politics. The narrative then shifts backwards in time to 1890 Paris and Henry Cort, a banker turned spy. Finally, in 1867 Venice, Stone himself recounts two life-changing events--a romance and the engineering of a weapon--and the shocking truth about his death becomes clear.