The Gallery Assistant
A Novel
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- USD 14.99
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- USD 14.99
Publisher Description
“A haunting, razor-sharp mystery…With an unforgettable protagonist and a plot that spirals into ever-deeper layers of intrigue.” —Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Ghostwriter
This twisty and sinister thriller follows a New York art gallery assistant reckoning with her past and now trapped in a web of deceit after an up-and-coming painter is murdered—perfect for fans of Katy Hays and Julia Bartz.
November 2001: Chloe Harlow wakes up late, with hazy memories of the party the night before but no recollection of how she got back to her Brooklyn apartment. Ever since the terrifying and catastrophic terrorist attack, it seems she has been on a collision course with destruction.
When she finally arrives at the exclusive Upper East Side art gallery where she works, she is immediately called into her boss’s office. A pair of NYPD detectives greet her, also very curious to know how her evening ended…because the host of the party, a rising painter and the gallery’s newest artist, is dead.
Navigating both the sophisticated high-stakes art world and her personal life in burgeoning Williamsburg, Chloe struggles to piece together a complete picture of that lost night. As she digs deeper, inconsistencies emerge between what she remembers and what people tell her actually happened, and more questions are raised. Everything begins to feel like a conspiracy and maybe it is. Because Chloe is the only one who glimpses the secrets the murdered artist left behind, and the closer she gets to the truth…the more deadly it becomes.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Curatorial assistant Chloe Harlow finds herself in dire straits months after narrowly escaping the 9/11 attacks in this intriguing thriller from Belli (Opulence and Ashes). The morning after a party celebrating buzzy artist Inga Beck, whose new painting is set to be shown at the posh Manhattan gallery where Chloe works, she wakes up hungover in her Brooklyn apartment with no memory of getting home. When she makes it into work, NYPD detectives are waiting with news that Inga has been murdered in the loft where the party was held. As Chloe scrambles to fill the gaps in her memory, she's hit with a string of strange occurrences. First, her boss is suddenly fired, and when Chloe tries to reach him, his phone has been disconnected. Then, as she studies Inga's canvases, she notices that each contains a coded cry for help. The few friends with whom Chloe discusses her fears are curiously dismissive—until her roommate is viciously attacked and left for dead. A couple of Belli's climactic twists are too far-fetched to land, but she artfully shapes the novel's nerve-shredding suspense and vividly captures the ambient paranoia of post-9/11 New York City. Flaws aside, this entertains.
