pg13 Reader Reviews: Review 536: The Forger's Requiem

The Forger's Requiem by Bradford Morrow
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This was a decent book, but not as good I had hoped. Earlier this year I read a previous book by Morrow and thoroughly enjoyed it and anticipated this one would be at the same caliber but it fell a little short.

Perhaps one reason for me was this is the last book in a trilogy. Yet I did not know this until I finished reading the book. If I started from book one my experience may have been somewhat different.

I did find a few hiccups in the beginning, as there are not clear chapter breaks in the copy I was reading. There were sudden changes in locations and who was speaking in the alternating first person POV. It was jarring until realizing this was the format after a few times of encountering this. Not only are there changes in location, but also the timeline switches around a little. It didn’t make for easy reading. After a while I got it figured out and that settled and the book made more sense while reading.

The book felt like it attempted to be a mystery, but it is not. There was a murder (maybe a major plot point in a previous book?) but the culprit really is known. The main content of the book is also about forgeries. Will and Nicole Diehl are father and daughter and have done forgeries in the past. Will has sworn that off as a way to make a living and has found a legal way to earn a living. Nicole is more of a painter anyway, and only dabbled in forgery as an imitation of her father. Yet their nemesis Henry Slader is blackmailing and forcing more forgeries. Slader is a prominent POV.

I did find it interesting that in the beginning of reading this book I found both sides sympathetic Slader and the Diehl’s, although as the book continues it is clear who is the true villain.

If I didn’t have an already way too long list of books to read I might be tempted to go and read the first too books in this trilogy.

Thanks to the Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy prior to publication.