NEW RELEASE
Even Better Than the Real Thing - Martina Reilly (2012)
Eve is a painter whose specialty is copying the works of masters such as Van Gogh. When her mother discovers she has a secret bank account with 11 million euros, it comes to light that Eve's late father sold one of her paintings as a real Van Gogh. Eve is determined to get the fake painting back - without implicating her family - and her neighbour Larry, an ex-con, seems the ideal person to help her. But can she trust him? An intriguing premise which is executed well, it is a much lighter read than Reilly's more recent fare.
What would you do if you were an unwitting part of a big art scam? That's the question facing the heroine of Martina Reilly's upcoming novel Even Better Than the Real Thing. Painter Eve Cole fakes masterpieces for a living - Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh. But then 11 million euro appears in her bank account and all of a sudden it seems one of her replicas is about to get her into a lot of trouble. The summary says: "Eve's going to get her painting back and return the 11 million paid for it. The only thing she needs is a plan that won't implicate her or her family. Enter Larry, her handsome, duplicitous next-door neighbour. Larry is full of plans and he might just be amoral enough to go through with them. Eve, knowing she has no choice but to trust this ex-con, reluctantly throws her lot in with him. But is Larry the real deal? Is he just another big fake? Will he con her out of her ill-gotten millions? As the plan escalates, Eve learns that much like riding a rollercoaster, life would be much more fun if she could just let go..." Even Better Than the Real Thing is out in January.