REVIEW: Still Lives by Maria Hummel
Still Lives
by Maria Hummel
Thanks so much to Counterpoint and Edelweiss for this read!
Publisher: Counterpoint
Publish Date: June 5, 2018
Kindle Edition
288 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
A young editor at a Los Angeles art museum finds herself pulled into the disturbing and dangerous world of a famous artist who goes missing on the opening night of her exhibition
Kim Lord is an avant garde figure, feminist icon, and agent provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her groundbreaking new exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self-portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women—the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson, among many others—and the works are as compelling as they are disturbing, implicating a culture that is too accustomed to violence against women.
As the city’s richest art patrons pour into the Rocque Museum’s opening night, all of the staff, including editor Maggie Richter, hope the event will be enough to save the historic institution’s flailing finances.
Except Kim Lord never shows up to her own gala
Fear mounts as the hours and days drag on and Lord remains missing. Suspicion falls upon the up-and-coming gallerist Greg Shaw Ferguson, who happens to be Maggie’s ex. A rogue’s gallery of eccentric art world figures could also have motive for the act, and as Maggie gets drawn into her own investigation of Lord’s disappearance, she’ll come to suspect all of those closest to her.
Set against a culture that too often fetishizes violence against women, Still Lives is a page-turning exodus into the art world’s hall of mirrors, and one woman’s journey into the belly of an industry flooded with money and secrets.
My Review:
I'm quickly coming to realize that books about possession or art just don't work for me all that well. While this one is centered around a missing artist and the behind the scenes of where she could possibly be, the underlying world of art and what people consider art just does not interest me.
At one point, I thought this was going to go in the direction of Exhibit Alexandra and I was going to be REALLY MAD about it. Thankfully it did NOT. For that I thank you, Hummel.
I think this book is more suited for those who love the art world, love a woman who is still hung up on her ex and then plays detective to try and help him since he's suspect number one... but also to satiate her own curiosity.
A solid thriller but unfortunately just not really my cup of tea.
★★★
At one point, I thought this was going to go in the direction of Exhibit Alexandra and I was going to be REALLY MAD about it. Thankfully it did NOT. For that I thank you, Hummel.
I think this book is more suited for those who love the art world, love a woman who is still hung up on her ex and then plays detective to try and help him since he's suspect number one... but also to satiate her own curiosity.
A solid thriller but unfortunately just not really my cup of tea.
★★★
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