alobear | The Brutal Art and One Day reviews

The Brutal Art by Jesse Kellerman was purchased during my historical mystery phase and got pushed down the pile by other, more interesting books. When I finally got round to reading it last week, it turned out not to be historical at all - not sure where the confusion came from. It's about an art dealer who gets embroiled in trying to solve a decades-old case that is linked to some art he discovers in an abandoned flat. It's pretty standard fare - the flashbacks throughout the century, tracking the history of the protagonist's family (which of course turns out to be pertinent to the case) are well done, and it maintained my interest all the way through, but it's not exactly going to set the literary world on fire any time soon.

One Day by David Nicholls was forced upon my by a work colleague, and turned out to be mediocre for the most part with an intensely depressing conclusion. When I gave it back to my colleague and asked her why she'd wanted me to read it, she said, "Well, I know you like to read books." Compelling argument.