The fact that THE GILDED SEAL is about Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is likely to be greeted by a chorus of groans. That’s understandable. After Dan Brown’s monumental best-selling THE DA VINCI CODE, readers have been subjected to an endless series of fictional knock-offs and non-fiction speculations about the painting and its creator.
But James Twining’s story is more about what the Mona Lisa is (and is not), rather than what it means. And the best way to discover that, we find, is by stealing it. Three seemingly unrelated events — an all-too-common technique in thrillers — open the novel. In Spain, a man is chased and then brutally murdered. In Scotland, former international art thief Tom Kirk, now a highly regarded consultant on art and museum security is summoned to the robbery site of a lesser-known, but nonetheless valuable painting by da Vinci.
Just as troubling as the theft is a grizzly display left at the site of the burglary. Kirk recognizes it as a message from his old nemesis, Milo. And in New York, FBI Agent Jennifer Browne is alerted to a case of possible forgery on the eve of two very expensive art auctions. As she begins her investigation, an attorney affiliated with one of the art holders is found murdered.
As events progress, we learn that the above events are, in fact, interrelated. The man murdered in Spain is Rafael, a skilled art forger and friend of Kirk’s. The murdered attorney was involved in the clandestine sale of art forgeries instigated by Milo. And finally, Kirk uncovers Milo’s plan to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in Paris. But then Kirk leans that Milo has kidnapped Eva, his former lover and Rafael’s adapted daughter.
So Kirk concludes that the only way to save Eva, and the da Vinci masterpiece, is to steal it himself and offer it as a trade-off to Milo for Eva’s life — or so he would have Milo believe. For as Kirk and the reader discover, there is no honor among thieves. Nor art forgers, nor even museum curators.
The major players here, along with Kirk himself, are mostly from THE DOUBLE EAGLE, Twining’s previous novel. But while that adventure is referred to often, you need not have read it to enjoy THE GILDED SEAL.
The author keeps the action shuffling and events moving with his trademark brief chapters. Yet, he distinguishes his novel from other globe-hopping, breakneck thrillers with flashes of character insight and humor. Along the way, we learn the darker side of museum business, the world of art auctions and sales, the evolving skill of art forgeries, and, most importantly, the previous theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 — the inspiration for the novel’s premise.
Ironically, the omnipresence of da Vinci and his smiling lady in fiction these days almost works against Twining’s book. Perhaps that is why the promotional copy on the paperback covers never mentions the Mona Lisa, and why Twining chose a title that is part of the lesser-known history of the painting.
In the end, however, THE GILDED SEAL scores high on entertainment, action and occasional suspense. And it just might mark the final volume to a shelf full of da Vinci-inspired thrillers. —Alan Cranis
