Thief of Light - Softcover

Adrian Sellars is a corrupt Manhattan art dealer who makes his living selling forgeries to a wealthy Japanese businessmen. That is, until the gifted artist he employs is viciously murdered in his SoHo studio and the just-finished painting Adrian commissioned, a Monet water lilies fake, is destroyed. When Adrian's Japanese clients insist on getting another painting, and punctuate their resolve by murdering his business partner, Adrian takes to the Manhattan streets in a frantic race to save his life.

With the help of Devon Berenson, his compassionate and intelligent colleague, Adrian wages a battle against a personal demon -- his addiction to heroin -- and combs the underside of the art world to find a way out. Amid the terrors of withdrawal Adrian and Devon find themselves falling in love, but the cold hand of the Japanese mob turns up around every corner.

From a multimillion-dollar brownstone on the Upper East Side to a auction of priceless objects on the floor of Christie's to a menacing midtown back alley, Thief of Light combines a complex and thrilling plot with one of the fastest and most heart-pounding conclusions in recent fiction.

Tension builds with the force and speed of a high-ticket auction in Ramus's gem of a first novel, as an art dealer's greed and a brutal murder spark a scavenger hunt through the back rooms of Manhattan's elite galleries in a frantic bid to evade Yakuza retribution. Narrator Adrian Sellars and his partner, Steven Ballard, are making enough to keep Adrian in heroin and Steve in the good life by selling admittedly forged Old Masters to Yakuza power thug Ryuichi Tanaka-until Adrian finds their master forger brutally murdered by thieves in his TriBeCa loft. Panicked, Adrian spills all (including a plan to return Tanaka's hefty deposit since the forger's death precludes delivery of a sham Monet) to his heroin supplier and lover, Marta Batista, which turns out to be a big, big mistake. The Yakuza, expecting fulfillment of a contract, force a meeting at which the partners present their case. But Tanaka insists on a Monet, threatens Adrian's family and kills Steven to emphasize the point. Adrian soon hits bottom and breaks down at the apartment of his assistant, Devon Berenson, who allows him to stay with her to withdraw from heroin in order to better deal with the crisis. Romance follows in short order, as do further complications and twists, until the swift action climbs to a brutal peak at an auction at Christie's and a nearby East Side townhouse. Despite a penchant for stock characters(the evil Marta, who's beautiful; the good Devon, who's not quite; the obviously villainous Yakuza) Ramus, himself a former heroin addict and art dealer, proves himself a wizard of a storyteller, presenting his action scenes with a sure hand while setting New York's glittery art scene against a realistically rendered cityscape. This is smart, savvy entertainment, a crime novel to savor. 125,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; BOMC alternate selection; simultaneous audio from HarperAudio; foreign rights sold in 13 countries; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.