Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Former FBI agent Wittman, who created the agency's Art Crime Team and pursued a lifelong interest in antiques and collectibles, goes undercover to hobnob with infamous art thieves. The ineffective, the stupid, the clever, and the dangerous; Wittman befriends them all, in order to betray them, a fact that causes him a certain amount of angst. Among other challenges are bumbling agency bureaucrats and government turf wars when attempting to recover stolen art abroad. A fatal car accident that Wittman was involved in early in his career shaped his perspective: "I understood that because someone made a mistake in judgment, it didn't make him evil. My newfound ability to see both sides of a situation-to think and feel like the accused-was invaluable." Wittman keeps the narrative interesting, and reveals himself as something of a renegade: "Under the FBI's strict undercover rules, you're only supposed to work one case at a time. I never followed that rule." Keep the lies to a minimum, he advises, and avoid working in your home town. (June) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Review by Library Journal Review
Together with Pulitzer Prize-nominated investigative reporter Shiffman, retired FBI agent Wittman (founder, Art Crimes Team) details the adventures of his 20-year career as an art detective. Actor/narrator Mark Deakins brings a tense realism to this fast-paced account that jumps from Rio to PBS's Antiques Roadshow and details how Wittman rescued everything from paintings by Pissarro and Rockwell to Peruvian archaeological objects and Civil War Americana. Wittman's disgust comes through in Deakins's recounting of his greatest potential case, bungled owing to FBI bureaucratic posturing and the whims of foreign governments. Recommended for those who enjoy memoir, art lore, suspense, and true crime.-David Faucheux, Louisiana Audio Information & Reading Svc., Lafayette (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Entertaining, surprisingly informative memoir of an FBI agent who specialized in art thefts.A dozen Scotland Yard agents deal with this massive, multibillion-dollar global problem. The French national police employ 30 agents, Italy even more. Since Wittman's retirement, the FBI employs no one. With the assistance of Philadelphia Inquirer investigative reporter Shiffman, the author recounts an eventful career as the FBI's sole art-crime specialist. He often worked undercover to trap criminals who, despite Hollywood's romance with art thieves, tend to be lowbrow and thuggish. No intellectual or art lover, Wittman began his career in Philadelphia in 1988; almost immediately, thieves struck two major museums. With luck, tips from informants and hard workalways superior to genius in tracking stolen arthe helped recover priceless Oriental antiques and a Rodin statue. His interest aroused, Wittman took art classes, although at the time art theft was not even a federal offense. This changed after 1990 when thieves stole $500 million worth of artifacts from Boston's Isabella Gardner Museum, the greatest property crime in American history. The author writes about several years of tortuous undercover work ingratiating himself with international mobsters who claimed to have the paintings. The investigation eventually fizzled, but police recovered several other stolen paintings. Readers will learn the mechanics of undercover work complicated by FBI superiors who were often as self-important and obstructive as the suspects. The digressions into art and art history are distracting, but crime buffs will receive a painless education while they enjoy a lively account of art thieves and the man who pursued them.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
