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Once in a while you crack the binding on a book that you find…disturbing. I don't use "disturbing" as a synonym for its next-door neighbor "shocking" or even "scandalous," its cousin down the road. No, I mean "disturbing" in the sense that it gets the brain cells moving, shakes and bakes them a bit, and gets you looking at the world from a different perspective. THE ICON by Neil Olson is this month's -- and maybe this year's --- disturbing novel.
The icon in this instance is a painting of the Holy Mother of Katarini, a religious icon thought to have been destroyed in a fire. When it turns up as an item in the home of a deceased private collector, however, its continued existence resonates across decades and around the world. Matthew Spear, a curator specializing in Greek works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, recognizes the painting as a famous work that will add to his employer's collection as well as to his own career.
But the painting has far greater significance to a small --- and very dangerous --- number of people, including Spear's godfather and grandfather, and a fugitive Nazi who has been chasing the painting while avoiding justice for decades. The subtle adversarial maneuvers of the three men against one another have consumed the better part of six decades.
Spear is caught in the middle of a world of deceit and subterfuge; with him is Ana Kessler, a part-time art dealer whose grandfather quietly has held the icon in his possession. Spear and Kessler slowly come to realize that the icon is more than an ancient and rare work of art, and in fact may be a source of fantastic and unbelievable power.
When the icon is spirited away under false pretenses, the search for the work becomes more dangerous, as the Greek Orthodox Church itself and other parties become more involved and everyone seeking the work grows more desperate. When the truth behind the origin of the work is revealed, it leaves Spear and Kessler with difficult choices, and with only themselves --- and perhaps one another --- to rely upon.
Olson's tone here is surprisingly strong and confident. Though the telling of THE ICON spans continents and decades, Olson remains sure-footed, guiding his reader slowly, where necessary, along a complex path but not hesitating to pick up the narrative pace when the storyline so requires. Olson relies more on subtle tensions than pyrotechnics (though such are present here as well) to move things along, so that more cerebral readers who might as a rule ordinarily eschew thrillers will appreciate this intelligent, well-plotted narrative.
While working as a literary agent is Olson's primary occupation, THE ICON is more than enough reason to hope that he will find himself on the creative side of the desk in short order. Recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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