tl bartusch

Fine art is a high maintenance mistress who demands constant care and total commitment. Being the Curator of the most famous painting in the world would be enough to test the skills and commitment of anyone. As the Head Curator of the Louvre, Jean Vernay uses all of his talent and knowledge to keep the museum's treasures safe. His most valuable charge is the Mona Lisa, which challenges modern curatorship not only because of its age, but the fame that has made it a must see for visitors to Paris. The six million visitors who crowd into its gallery at the Louvre every year threaten the painting's fragile surface. Vernay has sealed the painting in a glass tomb to protect it and instituted a questionable summer display policy that forges an opening for a cunning thief. Vernay's home life is a daily horror he is desperate to escape. The mysterious thief, Koenig, exploits Vernay's fear of exposure and makes him the offer of a lifetime. Vernay takes it and sets off a chain of events that can only end in death and destruction of the things he treasures most. As Victor Roth, Interpol's resident genius, tries to unravel the mystery of not only how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, and whether its missing Curator was involved, he enters a murky world of blackmail, art forgery and ruthless revenge where his past mingles with the present to drive a vicious game Victor realises he's also had a part in setting in motion.